'V 


^ 


1 


THE   RE-MAKING   OF   CHINA 


THE 
RE-MAKING  OF  CHINA 


BY 


ADOLF   S.    WALEY 


NEW YORK 

EPDUTTON  &  COMPANY 

PUBUSHERS 


:»i*^-'7y 


I  * 


Printbd  in    Geeat    Britain   by 

Richard  Clay  &  Sons,  Limited, 

brunswick  st.,  stamford  st.,  s.e., 

and  bungay,  suffolk. 


W3 


TO 

MY   DEAE  MOTHER 

I   DEDICATE    THIS   BOOK   IN   LOVING   GBATITUDE 


306799 


PREFACE 

This  little  book,  which  I  offer  to  the  public,  in  no 
way  presumes  to  compete  with  the  several  excellent 
works  upon  China  which  have  recently  appeared,  and 
from  which  I  have  occasionally  quoted. 

It  is  merely  the  outcome  of  the  very  close  study 
I  have  bestowed  upon  the  problems  so  interesting  and 
absorbing  which  the  recent  changes  in  that  country 
have  brought  into  prominence. 

A.  W. 

June  1914, 


THE    RE-MAKING  OF    CHINA 


CHAPTER    I 

The  unchanging  East — Condition  of  the  country  during  the 
minority  of  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu — The  Emperor  attains 
his  majority — His  meeting  with  Kang  Yu-wei  and  adoption 
of  a  policy  of  reform  coincident  with  a  period  of  foreign 
aggression — The  effects  of  foreign  aggression  on  the  Chinese 
— The  Empress  Dowager  places  herself  at  the  head  of  the 
reactionary  party — Decision  of  the  Emperor  on  the  advice 
of  Kang  Yu-wei  to  arrest  the  Empress  Dowager — Yuan 
Shih-Kai  entrusted  with  this  plan — Virtual  deposition  of  the 
Emperor  by  the  Empress  Dowager  and  flight  of  Kang  Yu- 
wei — The  Empress  resumes  the  government, 

"  The  unchanging  East."  To  no  country  did 
these  words  apply  more  correctly  than  to  the 
Celestial  Empire.  China  seemed  to  have  sunk  into 
a  kind  of  torpor  from  which  she  appeared  unlikely 
ever  to  rouse  herself.  Methods  suitable  to  the 
sixteenth  century  still  continued  in  the  nineteenth. 
Chinese  soldiers  still  marched  about  armed  with 
three-pronged  pitchforks,  and  in  some  cases  even 
with  bows  and  arrows.  The  officers  of  the  Chinese 
army  were  only  required  to  know  the  Chinese 
classics,  any  knowledge  of  military  tactics  being 
considered  quite  unnecessary. 

The  civil  officials  were  obliged  to  be  thoroughly 
conversant  with  the  works  of  Confucius,  but  any 
knowledge  of  modern  methods  of  government  was 


( ^ 


2    :       REMAKING    OF     CHINA 

deemed  superfluous.  The  Chinese  people,  far  from 
desiring  to  see  Western  ideas  adopted  in  their 
country,  heartily  despised  them. 

To  the  great  majority  of  Chinese  the  foreigner 
still  remained  the  "  Outer  Barbarian,"  and  in 
their  eyes  the  great  Russian  Empire  was  but  a 
petty  state,  tributary  to  the  Dragon  Throne. 

As  an  illustration  of  this,  mention  may  here  be 
made  that  the  Emperor  Tung-chih,  in  giving  his 
first  audience  to  the  foreign  ministers  accredited 
to  his  Court,  received  them  in  the  Hall  of  Purple 
Lights,  a  building  usually  reserved  for  the  Imperial 
receptions  of  vassal  chiefs  from  Mongolia  and  Tibet. 

The  reign  of  the  Emperor  Tung-chih,  1861- 
1875,  and  the  minority  of  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu, 
1875-1889,  were  periods  of  absolute  national 
stagnation,  and  observant  foreigners  freely  ad- 
vanced the  opinion  that  China  was  a  decadent 
country,  destined  to  be  partitioned  amongst  the 
European  Powers. 

The  Chinese,  however,  soon  proved  themselves 
not  to  be  a  decadent  nation,  but  merely  a  somnolent 
one.  With  the  accession  to  full  governing  powers 
of  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu,  March  4,  1889,  there 
came  a  partial  awakening.  The  Emperor  Kwang- 
hsu was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  the  Manchu  sovereigns.  Immured  from  his 
earliest  infancy  within  the  walls  of  the  Forbidden 
City,    and    lacking    the    slightest    semblance    of 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA  3 

European  education,  he  was  yet  fully  alive  to  the 
necessity  of  the  adoption  by  'China  of  Western 
methods,  and  also  to  a  certain  extent  of  Western 
civilisation,  in  order  that  she  might  occupy  her 
rightful  place  in  the  Council  of  the  Nations.  The 
innately  Liberal  views  of  the  Emperor  were  un- 
doubtedly strengthened  by  the  fact  that  his  reign 
coincided  with  a  period  of  foreign  aggression  in 
China.  In  1884  there  broke  out  the  war  with 
France,  which  resulted  in  the  loss  to  the  Celestial 
Empire  of  her  Indo-Chinese  dependencies.  This 
was  followed  ten  years  later  by  the  conflict  with 
Japan,  resulting  in  the  loss  of  Korea,  Formosa 
and  Port  Arthur. 

In  1897,  as  compensation  for  the  murder  of  two 
German  missionaries,  Germany  demanded  and 
obtained  from  China  the  cession  of  Kiaochau. 

The  culminating  point  of  the  aggression  was 
reached  in  1898,  when  Russia,  who  three  years 
previously  had  taken  the  lead  in  forcing  Japan 
to  restore  Port  Arthur  to  China,  compelled  China 
to  retrocede  that  port  to  the  Russian  Empire. 
The  result  of  this  move  on  the  part  of  Russia  was 
to  force  the  necessity  upon  Great  Britain  to 
demand  the  lease  of  Wei-hai-wei. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that,  seeing  his 
country  threatened  on  all  sides,  the  Emperor 
Kwanghsu  became  more  and  more  convinced  that, 
to  save  it  from  disruption,  it  would  be  expedient 


4  RE-MAKING     OF    CHINA 

for  him  to  adopt  Western  methods  of  government 
and  to  organise  both  his  army  and  navy  on  modern 
Hnes.  He  was  still  further  strengthened  in  his 
conviction  by  his  meeting  in  June  1898  with 
the  Cantonese  reformer,  Kang  Yu-wei,  who  became 
both  his  political  coadjutor  and  personal  friend. 

Opinions  have  always  been  divided  regarding 
the  individuality  of  Kang  Yu-wei.  By  some  he 
has  been  thought  a  visionary,  whilst  others  have 
considered  him  a  self-seeker.  Certain  it  is  that 
he  was  possessed  of  considerable  ability,  and  that 
he  was  genuinely  patriotic.  Stirred  by  the  example 
of  Japan,  which  in  the  comparatively  short  space 
of  thirty  years  had  been  transformed  from  a 
mediaeval  state  into  a  modern  constitutional 
monarchy,  Kang  Yu-wei  desired  to  effect  a  similar 
transformation  in  the  Middle  Kingdom,  and  he 
contrived  to  win  the  Emperor  over  to  his  ideas 
and  to  fire  him  with  his  enthusiasm.  So  well  did 
he  succeed  in  this,  that  between  June  1898  and 
the  September  of  the  same  year  there  appeared 
a  series  of  Imperial  edicts  all  working  towards  the 
fulfilment  of  his  hopes. 

The  first  edict  abolished  the  ancient  classical 
examination  system,  and  was  promptly  followed 
by  others  ordering  the  adoption  of  a  modern 
system  of  education  and  establishing  a  University 
in  Peking  organised  on  European  lines. 

Attention    was    also    paid    to   the    question    of 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA  5 

military  and  naval  reform,  and  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  *-^' 
now  President  of  the  Republic,  at  that  time 
Judicial  Commissioner  of  Chihli,  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  Peking  Field  Force  with 
orders  to  carry  into  practice  modern  military 
reforms. 

No  question  affecting  the  progress  of  the  nation 
was  left  untouched  by  the  Imperial  reformer,  and 
there  seemed  every  likelihood  that  the  Celestial 
Empire  would  in  the  very  shortest  time  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun. 
Unfortunately,  however,  for  China,  the  conditions 
in  that  country  during  the  reign  of  Kwanghsu 
were  very  different  to  those  prevailing  in  Japan 
at  the  commencement  of  the  Meiji  era. 

In  the  first  place,  the  reigning  dynasty  of  China  -  ^. 
was  of  a  race  alien  to  the  people  over  which  it 
ruled,  and  in  consequence  of  this,  Kwanghsu  had 
not  so  strong  a  claim  upon  the  patriotism  of  the 
Chinese    as   Mutsuhito   had    upon   the    Japanese. 
Secondly,  the  powerful  and  patriotic  feudal  aris-    ^ 
tocracy,    so   much   to   the   fore   in   the   Japanese  '^ 
restoration,  did  not  exist  in  China.     In  China  the 
corrupt   and   often  incompetent  Mandarin   stood 
in  the  place  of  the  Japanese  Daimyo  of  the  restora- 
tion days,  and  whereas  the  Daimyo,  imbued  with 
the  traditions  of  Bushido,  was  ready  to  yield  up 
all  his  feudal  powers  to  his  sovereign,  the  Mandarin, 
anxious   only   for   his    own    aggrandisement    and 


6  RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

eager  to  fill  his  pockets  at  his  country's  expense, 
constituted  the  chief  obstacle  to  its  progress. 
Kwanghsu  fully  realised  the  strength  of  this 
opposition  to  his  policy  on  the  part  of  the  official 
class,  and  he  met  it  with  an  edict  in  which  he 
professed  himself  ready  to  listen  to  all  reasonable 
objections.  Unfortunately  for  him,  he  quite 
counteracted  the  effect  of  this  edict  by  peremptorily 
dismissing  every  official  who  dared  to  differ  from 
him,  and  amongst  these  there  were  a  few  absolutely 
honest  Conservatives  whom  he  might  with  tact 
and  patience  have  won  over  to  his  cause. 

Intrigues  against  the  Emperor  on  the  part  of 
the  dismissed  officials  soon  became  rife,  and  the 
Iho  Park,  situated  within  the  precincts  of  the 
Summer  Palace,  the  residence  during  her  retire- 
ment of  the  Empress  Dowager  Tzu  Hsi,  became 
the  centre  of  these  intrigues. 

For  some  considerable  time  Tzu  Hsi  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  the  continuous  suggestions  on  the 
part  of  the  cashiered  Mandarins  that  she  should 
resume  the  reins  of  government,  but  eventually 
the  action  of  the  Emperor  himself  drove  her  into 
acceding  to  their  wishes. 

It  was  the  firm  belief  of  Kang  Yu-wei,  a  belief 
amounting  almost  to  an  obsession,  that  the  chief 
opponents  to  the  policy  of  reform  were  the 
Empress  Dowager  and  Yung  Lu,  the  Viceroy  of 
Chihli  and  her  loyal  adherent. 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA  7 

As  regards  the  Empress  Dowager,  he  had  some 
justification  for  his  eonvictions%  but  where  Yung  Lu 
was  concerned  his  opinion  was  a  totally  erroneous 
one.  Yung  Lu  combined  the  noblest  character 
with  great  ability.  Devoted  though  he  was  to 
the  Empress  Dowager,  and  fully  cognisant  of  the 
very  great  influence  he  had  over  her,  he,  throughout 
his  lengthy  official  career,  only  made  use  of  his 
influence  for  the  good  of  his  country. 

In  addition,  he  was  a  sincere  though  moderate 
Liberal,  and  had  been  one  of  the  first  officials  to 
bring  Kang  Yu-wei  to  the  notice  of  the  Emperor. 

In  spite  of  this,  Kang  Yu-wei  incessantly  urged 
upon  the  Emperor  that  the  Reform  policy  would 
never  succeed  whilst  the  Empress  Dowager  re- 
tained her  liberty  and  Yung  Lu  his  life.  For  a 
time  Kwanghsu  hesitated,  reluctant  to  repay  with 
such  ingratitude  the  woman  who  had  raised  him 
to  the  throne.  Gradually,  however,  the  breach 
between  him  and  the  Empress  Dowager  widened, 
and  about  the  middle  of  September  1898  he 
decided  to  follow  the  advice  of  Kang  Yu-wei.  He 
selected  as  his  instrument  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  at  that 
time  Commander  of  the  Peking  Field  Force,  and 
therefore  subordinate  to  Yung  Lu.  Kwanghsu 
believed  Yuan  Shih-Kai  to  be  wholly  devoted  to 
his  interests,  and  apparently  was  in  total  ignorance 
of  the  fact  that  the  very  closest  friendship  existed 
between  the  two  men,  a  friendship  sanctified  by 


/ 


8  RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

the  oath  of  blood-brotherhood  which  they  had 
taken. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22nd  of  September,  his 
plans  having  taken  definite  shape,  Kwanghsu 
summoned  Yuan  Shih-Kai  to  the  palace  and  gave 
him  his  final  instructions.  He  desired  him  to 
proceed  with  all  speed  to  Tientsin  and  to  arrest  Yung 
Lu  in  his  Yamen,  and  at  once  put  him  to  death. 
He  was  immediately  after  to  return  to  Peking 
at  the  head  of  10,000  picked  men  from  his  own 
force  and  seize  the  Empress  Dowager,  imprisoning 
her  within  the  Summer  Palace. 

After  giving  him  these  instructions,  the  Emperor 
handed  to  Yuan  an  edict  appointing  him  Viceroy 
of  Chihli  in  succession  to  Yung  Lu.  Yuan  Shih- 
Kai  departed  forthwith  to  Tientsin,  reaching  that 
city  about  noon  of  the  same  day. 

He  proceeded  at  once  to  the  Viceregal  Yamen, 
and  made  his  way  instantly  to  the  private  apart- 
ments of  Yung  Lu,  whom  he  addressed  as  follows  : 
"  Do  you  regard  me  as  a  faithful  blood-brother?  " 
"  Of  course  I  do,"  replied  Yung  Lu.  "  You  well 
may,  for  the  Emperor  has  sent  me  to  kill  you,  and 
now  instead  I  betray  his  scheme  because  of  my 
loyalty  to  the  Empress  Dowager  and  my  affection 
for  you."  ^  Yung  Lu  left  at  once  by  special  train 
for  Peking,  and  entered  the  presence  of  the  Empress 
Dowager  unannounced,  and  revealed  the  whole 
1  China  under  the  Empress  Dowager,  p.  206, 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA  9 

plot  to  her.  Tzu  Hsi  lost  no  time  in  deliberation. 
Summoning  a  secret  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council, 
she  laid  all  the  facts  of  the  plot  before  the 
councillors,  and  they  with  one  accord  begged  her 
to  resume  the  government. 

The  doom  of  Kwanghsu  was  sealed.  At  mid- 
night the  troops  hitherto  on  guard  in  the  Forbidden 
City  were  ordered  to  withdraw  and  were  replaced 
by  soldiers  drawn  from  Yung  Lu's  own  corps. 
At  about  6  a.m.  on  September  23,  the  Emperor 
was  seized  by  a  detachment  of  guards  and  im- 
prisoned in  an  Island  Palace  in  the  Forbidden 
City,  and  compelled  to  issue  an  edict  handing  over 
the  government  of  the  Celestial  Empire  to  the 
Empress  Dowager. 

Thus  the  reign  of  Kwanghsu,  which  had  opened 
with  so  much  promise,  came  to  a  disastrous  close, 
for  although  he  nominally  retained  the  throne,  all 
real  power  had  passed  from  his  hands  for  ever. 

His  life  was  only  spared  owing  to  the  appeals  of 
certain  officials,  amongst  them  the  generous- 
minded  Yung  Lu,  who  warned  the  Empress 
Dowager  that  the  execution  of  the  Son  of  Heaven 
was  a  step  so  drastic  as  to  endanger  her  popularity. 

Of  the  many  leaders  of  the  Reform  party, 
Kang  Yu-wei  and  his  lieutenant,  Liang  Chi-chao, 
were  able  to  escape,  the  former  to  Hong-Kong, 
the  latter  to  Japan,  but  several  other  prominent 
reformers,   including  a   brother  of  Kang  Yu-wei, 


10         RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

suffered  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law,  dying 
bravely  and  declaring  with  their  last  breath  their 
unswerving  belief  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
cause  of  Reform. 

The  coup  d'etat  of  1898  marks  the  commencement 
of  the  anti-Manchu  movement  which  eventually 
culminated  in  the  Chinese  Revolution,  for  it  trans- 
ferred the  leadership  of  the  Chinese  Progressives 
from  Kang  Yu-wei,  the  moderate  Reformer,  to 
Sun  Yat-sen,  the  Revolutionist. 

Reviewing  Kwanghsu's  short  reign,  it  is  not  to 
be  doubted  that  he  made  many  mistakes,  chiefly 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  reforms  he  sought  to  bring 
about  had  not  been  sufficiently  deliberated  upon. 

In  spite  of  these  grave  errors,  it  would  be  unfair 
when  taking  into  consideration,  as  we  did  in  the 
earlier  part  of  this  chapter,  the  corrupt  Court  in 
which  he  was  brought  up,  surrounded  solely  by 
eunuchs  totally  devoid  of  any  semblance  of  modern 
education,  to  deny  the  character  of  the  unfortunate 
emperor  some  elements  of  greatness. 

Had  he  continued  to  reign,  he  might  have 
succeeded  in  permanently  reconciling  the  Chinese 
people  to  the  Manchu  dynasty.  By  his  virtual 
deposition  the  downfall  of  that  dynasty  became 
merely  a  matter  of  time.  The  cause  of  Reform  was 
destined  to  triumph  in  the  end,  but  it  was  to  be 
brought  about  at  a  heavy  cost  and  by  sterner 
means  than  by  the  stroke  of  the  vermihon  pencil. 


CHAPTER    II 

The  prestige  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  lowered  and  endangered 
by  its  inability  to  resist  foreign  aggression — Empress  Dowager 
decides  on  war  against  the  Western  Powers — Origin  of  the 
Boxer  Society — Empress  Dowager  establishes  it  on  legal 
basis — Entry  of  troops  from  the  province  of  Kansu  into 
Peking — Assassination  of  Mr.  Sugiyama — Attack  by  the 
Boxers  on  the  French  Cathedral — Meeting  of  the  Grand 
Council — Decision  in  favour  of  war — Assassination  of  the 
German  Minister — Attack  on  the  Foreign  Legations  by  Boxers 
and  Imperial  troops — Empress  Dowager  issues  secret  edict 
ordering  extermination  of  all  foreigners  in  China — Terrible 
massacre  of  foreigners  in  Taiyuanfu — Defiance  by  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  and  other  Viceroys  of  the  Empress  Dowager's 
commands  and  protection  by  them  of  foreigners  in  their 
respective  provinces — Advance  of  international  relief  forces 
on  Peking — Flight  of  the  Court  to  Sianfu  and  entry  of  the 
allies  into  Peking. 

When  the  Empress  Dowager  again  took  up  the 
reins  of  government  she  was  confronted  by  an 
exceedingly  difficult  and  dangerous  political  situa- 
tion. By  its  inability  to  protect  its  possessions 
from  foreign  aggression,  the  Manchu  dynasty  had 
lost  much  of  its  former  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  its 
Chinese  subjects.  The  conservative  North  was 
greatly  incensed  by  the  loss  of  Kiaochau  and  Port 
Arthur,  while  the  more  liberally  inclined  South 
deeply  resented  the  overthrow  of  Kwanghsu  and 
Kang  Yu-wei  and  the  consequent  return  to  a 
policy  of  reaction.  The  earlier  Manchu  emperors 
had  employed  a  strong  hand  and  a  sharp  sword 

as  the  only  means  by  which  alien  rulers  could 

XX 


12         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

govern  the  Chinese  people,  but  at  this  juncture 
in  Chinese  history  the  hand  was  gradually  growing 
weak  and  the  sword  rusty.  The  ominous  murmur 
not  heard  since  the  Taiping  revolt  thirty-eight 
years  earlier — "  the  Manchu  dynasty  has  exhausted 
the  mandate  of  Heaven,  let  us  hurl  the  hated 
Tartar  from  the  Dragon  Throne  and  restore  the 
rule  of  the  sons  of  Han " — arose  once  more 
throughout  the  country. 

No  one  realised  more  fully  than  the  Empress 
Dowager  the  extreme  peril  to  the  dynasty,  and  she 
instantly  grasped  at  the  only  chance  of  saving 
it  from  downfall  by  seeking  to  direct  the  wrath 
of  the  Chinese  people  into  a  different  channel. 

She  endeavoured  to  divert  their  anger  to  the 
large  foreign  community  in  China,  impressing 
upon  her  subjects  that  the  surest  way  for  the 
dynasty  once  more  to  prove  deserving  of  their 
allegiance  would  be  a  successful  war  against  the 
hated  "  foreign  devils "  who  had  filched  from 
China  so  many  of  her  former  possessions. 

At  first  Tzu  Hsi  limited  her  anti-foreign  policy 

S  to  annulling  all  those  edicts  of   Kwanghsu  which 

had  aimed  at  the  westernisation  of    China,  but 

during  the  summer  of  1899  she  adopted  a  more 

militant  programme. 

It  was  at  this  critical  moment  that  Prince  Tuan, 
Kang  Yi  and  other  leaders  of  the  reactionary 
party  brought  to  the  Empress   Dowager's  notice 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA  13 

the  famous  Society  of  Boxers,  of  whom  it  is  im- 
perative to  give  a  brief  description.  The  "  I  Ho 
Chuan,"  or  "  Society  of  Patriotic  and  Harmonious 
Fists,"  first  made  its  appearance  in  1895  in  the 
Province  of  Shantung. 

Its  earHest  leader  claimed  descent  from  Hung 
Wu,  founder  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  which  rather 
suggests  that  in  its  infancy  at  any  rate  the 
society  was  not  pro-Manchu. 

Shortly  before  the  Empress  Dowager  became 
acquainted  with  its  existence,  the  society  had, 
however,  developed  into  a  pro-Manchu  and  violent 
anti-foreign  organisation.  Its  banners  bore  the 
inscription,  "  Protect  the  Tsing  dynasty,  extermi- 
nate the  foreigner." 

The  Boxers  believed  themselves  to  be  under 
the  special  protection  of  the  "  Jade  Emperor," 
the  supreme  deity  of  the  Taoists,  and  they  were 
fully  convinced  that  certain  spells  of  which  they 
possessed  the  secret  would  render  them  immune 
from  death  on  the  battle-field. 

Knowing  the  Empress  Dowager's  very  high 
standard  of  intelligence,  it  seems  almost  incredible 
that  she  should  have  allowed  herself  to  be  persuaded 
into  a  belief  in  the  magical  powers  of  the  Boxers ; 
but  nevertheless  this  was  so,  as  is  clearly  proved 
by  her  subsequent  actions. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1899  she  issued  an 
edict  ordering  the  formation  of  a  National  Militia 


14         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

throughout  the  country,  which  was  synonymous 
with  estabUshing  the  Boxer  movement  on  a  legal 
basis. 

This  step  naturally  called  forth  protests  from 
the  different  Legations  in  Peking,  to  which  the 
Tsung-li-Yamen  (the  Foreign  Office)  replied  eva- 
sively that  orders  would  be  sent  to  the  Provincial 
Governors  to  suppress  the  Boxers.  In  some  cases 
the  orders  were  formally  sent,  but  were  followed 
up  by  secret  instructions  to  the  different  Viceroys 
to  disregard  them,  and  to  allow  the  Boxer  move- 
ment to  continue. 

From  this  moment  the  situation  in  Peking  grew 
daily  more  menacing  to  the  foreigners.  On  June 
10,  1900,  by  command  of  the  Empress  Dowager, 
there  arrived  in  the  city  a  large  force  of  fierce 
Mohammedan  soldiers  from  Kansu,  whose  leader, 
Tung  Fu-hsiang,  was  noted  for  his  extreme  anti- 
foreign  views.  On  the  following  day  Mr.  Sugiyama, 
Chancellor  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  was  assassin- 
ated outside  the  Yung-ting  Gate  by  a  body  of 
these  Mohammedan  soldiers,  and  on  the  13th 
the  French  Cathedral  was  attacked  and  set  fire 
to  by  a  large  force  of  Boxers,  many  native  converts 
perishing  in  the  flames.  The  Imperial  forces  had 
not  been  associated  with  the  attack  on  the 
cathedral,  but  in  order  that  they  should  in  the 
future  be  in  a  position  to  assist  the  Boxers  the 
Empress    Dowager,   on    June    20,    summoned    a 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         15 

special  meeting  of  the  Grand  Council  to  determine 
how  the  proposed  war  against  the  world  should 
be  conducted. 

In  spite  of  her  warlike  intentions,  the  Empress 
Dowager  had,  previous  to  the  Council,  yielding 
to  the  representations  of  Yung  Lu,  promised  that 
the  Foreign  Legations  should  be  safely  escorted 
to  Tientsin  before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

This  humane  concession  did  not,  however,  fall 
in  with  the  views  of  Prince  Tuan  and  the  other 
leaders  of  the  extreme  anti-foreign  faction. 

Immediately  the  Council  had  assembled.  Prince 
Tuan  laid  before  the  Empress  Dowager  a  dispatch 
which  he  declared  he  had  that  morning  received 
from  the  Foreign  Ministers,  demanding  the  abdica- 
tion of  the  Empress  Dowager,  the  restoration  of 
the  Emperor  Kwanghsu,  and  the  degradation  of 
the  newly  appointed  heir  apparent,  the  son  of 
Prince  Tuan  himself. 

In  point  of  fact  this  document  was  forgery,  but 
the  Empress  Dowager  believed  in  its  authenticity, 
and  her  fury  was  instantly  aroused.  To  quote 
her  own  words  :  "  The  insolence  of  these  foreigners 
passes  all  bounds;  how  dare  they  question  my 
authority  ?  let  us  exterminate  them  before  we  eat 
our  morning  meal."  ^  Vainly  did  Yung  Lu,  sup- 
ported by  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu,  who  was 
present  at  the  Council,  plead  for  the  safe  escort  of 
^  China  under  the  Empress  Dowager,  p.  265. 


16         RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

the  Legations,  asking  what  lustre  would  be  added 
to  the  Imperial  arms  by  the  slaughter  of  a  handful 
of  isolated  Europeans. 

The  Empress  remained  immovable,  and  her 
only  reply  was  to  the  effect  that  Yung  Lu  was  free 
to  offer  the  Legations  safe  escort  to  Tientsin,  but 
that  she  herself  would  not  support  him  in  carrying 
this  plan  into  execution.  During  the  debate  of 
the  Council,  events  outside  had  already  assumed  an 
aspect  so  threatening  that  any  efforts  on  the  part  of 
Yung  Lu  to  prevent  bloodshed  had  become  useless. 

The  Tsung-li-Yamen  had  already  made  attempts 
to  bring  about  the  withdrawal  of  the  Foreign 
Legations  to  the  coast  with  the  result  that,  on 
the  morning  of  June  20,  the  German  Minister, 
Baron  von  Ketteler,  volunteered  to  go  to  the 
Foreign  Office  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  these 
departures.  This  offer,  involving  great  personal 
danger  to  Baron  von  Ketteler,  was  accepted  by 
his  colleagues,  and  he  almost  immediately  set  out 
in  a  sedan  chair  for  the  Foreign  Office.  He  had 
hardly  crossed  the  boundary  of  the  quarter  in 
which  the  Legations  were  situated  when  he  en- 
countered a  picket  of  Manchu  soldiers  belonging 
to  Prince  Tuan's  own  corps.  They  were  under 
orders  to  shoot  every  foreigner  who  crossed  their 
path  and,  alas !  had  no  hesitation  in  carrying  these 
orders  into  effect. 

Baron  von  Ketteler  was  instantly  shot  dead  in 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA  17 

his  sedan  chair  by  a  soldier  named  En  Hai,  and 
on  the  afternoon  of  that  same  day  the  Chinese 
troops  opened  a  terrific  fire  on  the  Austrian 
Legation.  Prince  Tuan  had  now  attained  his 
aim,  and  the  Chinese  Government  had  committed 
itself  beyond  recall.  The  memorable  siege  of  the 
Peking  Legations,  which  was  destined  to  have  such 
a  far-reaching  effect  on  the  future  of  the  Celestial 
Empire,  had  commenced. 

The  Empress  Dowager  now  issued  a  secret 
edict  which  was  sent  only  to  the  Viceroys  and 
Governors  of  the  eighteen  provinces,  commanding 
them  to  slay  all  foreigners  resident  within  their 
jurisdiction. 

This  edict,  however,  was  intercepted  before 
leaving  Peking  by  two  officials  named  Yuan  Chang 
and  Hsu  Ching-cheng,  both  members  of  the 
moderate  party,  and  the  word  "  protect  "  inserted 
by  them  in  place  of  the  word  "  slay." 

One  of  the  first  to  receive  the  edict  was  Yuan 
Shih-Kai,  at  that  time  Governor  of  Shantung. 

Yuan,  though  probably  very  doubtful  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  word  "  protect,"  never  for  one 
moment  hesitated  as  to  which  course  to  pursue. 
He  not  only  accorded  the  foreign  community  in 
Shantung  his  protection,  but  mercilessly  crushed 
the  Boxer  movement  throughout  his  province. 
Yuan  Shih-Kai's  example  was  promptly  followed 
by  all  the  Viceroys  of  the  southern  provinces,  and 


18  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

Liu  Kun-yi,  Viceroy  of  Nanking,  sent  a  telegram 
to  the  Empress  Dowager,  that  whilst  he  would  be 
only  too  ready  to  lead  his  troops  North  if  it  were 
in  order  to  repel  a  foreign  invasion,  he  absolutely 
refused  to  lend  his  forces  for  the  purpose  of  massa- 
cring a  few  helpless  foreigners.  At  Taiyuanfu, 
the  capital  of  the  province  of  Shansi,  there  occurred 
a  massacre  rivalling  in  bloodshed  the  worst  horrors 
of  the  Indian  Mutiny.  Yu  Hsien,  the  Governor  of 
this  province,  was  bitterly  anti-foreign,  and  on 
receiving  the  Imperial  edict  with  its  altered  word- 
ing immediately  sent  a  memorial  to  the  Empress 
Dowager  asking  for  an  explanation.  To  this  she 
replied  :  "  I  command  that  all  foreigners,  men, 
women  and  children,  old  and  young,  be  summarily 
executed;  let  not  one  escape,  so  that  my  empire 
be  purged  of  this  noisome  source  of  corruption, 
and  peace  be  restored  to  my  loyal  subjects."  ^ 

Yu  Hsien  lost  no  time  in  carrying  this  terrible 
command  into  effect.  He  induced  practically  the 
whole  foreign  community  of  Taiyuanfu  to  take 
refuge  in  his  Yamen,  and  then  put  them  all  to  death, 
sparing  not  even  the  women  and  children. 
'^'Yuan  Chang  and  Hsu  Ching-cheng  paid  for 
their  gallant  attempt  to  save  the  foreigners  with 
their  own  lives.  They  were  both  executed  by 
order  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  Meanwhile  in 
Peking,  Yung  Lu,  reviled  as  a  traitor,  and  in 
constant  danger  of  assassination  at  the  hands  of 
1  China  under  the  Empress  Dowager,  p.  207. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         19 

Prince  Tuan's  party,  never  relaxed  his  efforts  to 
secure  peace.  In  spite  of  his  enemies  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  his  efforts  crowned  with 
success,  and  on  July  18  the  Empress  Dowager, 
who  had  never  wholly  lost  her  confidence  in  him, 
granted  him  permission  to  conclude  an  armistice 
with  the  Legations. 

Unfortunately,  almost  simultaneously  with  the 
conclusion  of  this  armistice,  a  dispatch  arrived 
at  the  Court  of  Peking  from  Yu  Lu,  the  Viceroy 
of  Chihli.  The  contents  of  this  dispatch  announced 
a  victory  at  Tientsin  by  the  Viceroy's  troops  against 
the  allied  force  marching  to  the  relief  of  the  Lega- 
tions. Though  absolutely  untrue,  the  Empress 
believed  the  news  to  be  genuine,  and  was  en- 
couraged by  it  to  resume  hostilities  as  early  as 
August  6.  Meanwhile  the  inmates  of  the  besieged 
Legations,  though  suffering  great  privations  and 
in  constant  and  deadly  peril,  continued  their 
heroic  defence.  Time  after  time  they  drove  back 
Tung  Fu-hsiang's  troops,  although  he  himself  had 
boasted  that  a  very  few  days  would  see  the  entire 
Legations  effaced  from  the  earth. 

Seeing  the  very  slow  progress  of  the  Boxer  arms 
the  Empress  Dowager  began  to  lose  faith  in  their 
strength,  and  again  commenced  .to  incline  towards 
a  peaceful  settlement,  but  she  had  missed  her 
opportunity,  as  help  for  the  besieged  Legations 
was  close  at  hand. 

On  August  14,  Duke  Lan,  a  prominent  leader  of 


20         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

the  anti-foreign  party,  rushed  into  the  presence 
of  the  Empress  ^Dowager  exclaiming :  "  Old 
Buddha,  the  foreign  devils  have  arrived."  Close 
upon  his  heels  followed  Kang  Yi  with  the  mo- 
mentous news  that  a  large  force  of,  as  he  called 
them,  "  turbaned  soldiers  "  was  encamped  in  the 
park  of  the  Temple  of  Heaven.  Their  information 
was  correct.  The  relief  force  commanded  by 
Count  von  Waldersee  had  at  last  arrived. 
Realising  that  the  position  had  become  desperate, 
the  Empress  Dowager  lost  no  time,  and  during 
that  night  made  all  preparations  for  flight. 
Shortly  before  dawn  on  the  15th  she  fled  from 
Peking  in  the  disguise  of  a  Chinese  peasant  woman, 
taking  with  her  the  Emperor  and  the  heir  apparent. 

Prince  Tuan  made  good  his  escape  at  the  same 
time,  but  Yung  Lu,  chivalrous  and  loyal  even  in 
this  extremity,  remained  behind  and  made  a  last 
desperate  effort  to  rally  his  troops  and  assure  his 
Imperial  mistress  a  safe  retreat. 

The  Imperial  family  continued  its  flight,  arriving 
first  at  Kalgan  and  then  proceeding  to  Taiyuanfu, 
where  it  was  joined  by  Yung  Lu. 

After  a  short  rest  at  Taiyuanfu  the  Empress 
Dowager  moved  on  to  Sianfu,  the  capital  of 
Shensi,  where  she  intended  to  reside  with  her  Court 
during  exile. 

No  doubt  as  they  were  speeding  towards  the 
"  City  of  Continuous  Peace  "  the  thoughts  both 
of  the  Empress  Dowager  and  of  Yung  Lu  must 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         21 

have  gone  back  to  that  other  flight  to  Jehol  thirty- 
nine  years  earher.  At  that  time  the  Empress  Tzu 
Hsi  had  been  only  Yehonala,  the  Yi  concubine  of 
the  Emperor  Hsien  Feng,  and  Yung  Lu  the  play- 
mate of  her  childhood  and  an  obscure  officer  in 
the  Imperial  Guard. 

Their  united  efforts  had  successfully  fought  the 
intrigues  of  the  usurping  Regents,  and  together 
they  had  carried  out  the  daring  coup  d'etat  which 
made  the  young  widow  of  Hsien  Feng  ruler  of 
the  Middle  Kingdom.  Thirty-nine  years  ago  they 
had  also  fled  from  a  foreign  army,  but  the  disaster 
of  1861  was  in  no  way  comparable  in  magnitude 
to  that  of  1900. 

In  1861  the  victories  of  the  foreign  troops  had 
not  extended  beyond  the  Chinese  City,  and  only 
the  Summer  Palace  had  been  looted. 

In  1900  the  Tartar  City  also  was  occupied  by 
the  enemy,  and  the  halls  where  Chien  Lung  and 
Kanghsi  had  once  held  Court  now  re-echoed  to 
the  tramp  of  foreign  soldiers. 

It  seemed  as  though  the  Empress  Dowager's 
sway  had  reached  its  end,  and  had  she  not  been 
gifted  with  the  most  masterly  mind  and  the  most 
wonderful  power  to  attract  even  her  enemies  this 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  case. 

In  truth,  she  was  destined  not  only  to  return 
in  triumph  to  the  Forbidden  City,  but  to  win  the 
respect,  and  in  some  cases  even  the  affection,  of 
the  European  community  in  China. 


CHAPTER    III 

Empress  Dowager  realises  mistakes  in  her  foreign  policy — Turns 
to  Yung  Lu  for  advice — Punishment  of  Boxer  leaders — ■ 
Decision  in  favour  of  policy  of  reform — Peace  signed — Return 
of  the  Court  to  Peking — Death  of  Yung  Lu — Yuan  Shih-Kai 
succeeds  him  as  intimate  adviser  to  the  Empress  Dowager — 
Reforms  introduced  by  Empress  Dowager — Illness  of  the 
Emperor  Kwanghsu — Prince  Pu  Lun  and  Prince  Pu  Yi 
suggested  as  candidates  for  the  throne — Disagreement  on 
the  subject  between  Yuan  Shih-Kai  and  Empress  Dowager — 
Empress  Dowager  decides  in  favour  of  Pu  Yi — Death  of  the 
Emperor  Kwanghsu,  followed  shortly  after  by  death  of  the 
Empress  Dowager — Criticism  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Empress  Dowager — Accession  of  Prince  Pu  Yi  to  the  throne — 
Prince  Chun  declared  Regent  during  his  minority — Regent's 
hatred  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai — Disgrace  and  exile  of  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  by  the  Regent — Adoption  by  the  Regent  of  reac- 
tionary measures  and  appointment  by  him  of  members  of 
the  Imperial  Clan  only  to  principal  posts  of  government — 
Intense  anger  of  the  Chinese  nation  at  this  policy — Revolu- 
tionary party  headed  by  Sun  Yat-sen  greatly  strengthened — 
Meeting  of  the  Tzu  Cheng  Yuan — Interval  of  calm — Discovery 
of  revolutionary  plot  at  Wuchang  followed  by  military  revolt 
— Flight  of  the  Viceroy — Occupation  by  the  rebels  of  the 
three  cities  and  election  by  them  of  Li  Yuan-hung  as  com- 
mander— Provisional  Government  formed  at  Wuchang — 
More  cities  join  rebellion — Regent  dispatches  northern  army 
and  naval  squadron  to  Hankow — Capital  of  Shensi  declares 
in  favour  of  rebels  as  does  also  naval  squadron  before  men- 
tioned— Recall  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai  by  Regent  and  his  appoint- 
ment as  Viceroy  of  Wuchang — Garrison  of  Lanchow  demands 
Constitution — Constitution  granted  and  resignation  of  the 
Premier,  Prince  Ching — Yuan  Shih-Kai  elected  Prime 
Minister. 

During  her  exile  at  Sianfu  the  Empress  Dowager 

engaged  in  serious  reflection,  and  very  soon  began 

to  recognise  the  mistakes  of  the  past.     She  saw 

clearly  that  the  only  means  by  which  she  could 

22 


RE- MAKING    OF     CHINA  23 

hope  to  regain  the  confidence  of  the  foreign 
community  in  China,  and  thereby  of  the  European 
Powers,  would  be  by  the  drastic  punishment  of 
Prince  Tuan  and  the  other  instigators  of  the 
attacks  upon  the  Legations.  She  also  realised 
most  thoroughly  that  the  one  chance  of  retaining 
the  throne  for  the  Manchu  dynasty  was  to  con- 
ciliate the  Chinese  nation  by  the  adoption  of  the 
policy  of  reform  advocated  by  Kwanghsu.  As  on 
so  many  previous  occasions,  the  Empress  Dowager 
again  in  this  crisis  sought  the  wise  counsel  of 
Yung  Lu. 

In  obedience  to  her  request  for  his  advice 
Yung  Lu  replied  as  follows — 

"  Old  Buddha,  there  is  only  one  way — you 
must  behead  Prince  Tuan  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
Princes  and  Ministers  who  misled  you,  and  then 
you  must  return  to  Peking."  ^ 

A  few  days  later  the  Empress  Dowager  ordered 
the  imprisonment  pending  execution  of  Prince 
Tuan,  of  Duke  Lan  and  of  other  leaders  of  the 
Boxer  party.  In  the  cases  of  Prince  Tuan  and 
of  Duke  Lan,  the  capital  sentence  was  commuted 
to  one  of  banishment  for  life  to  Turkestan,  but 
Prince  Chuang  was  ordered  to  commit  suicide, 
while  Yu  Hsien  and  Chi  Hsiu,  two  other  Boxer 
leaders,  were  beheaded. 

In  addition  to  this  proof  of  her  desire  to  retrieve 
^  China  under  the  Empress  Dowager,  p.  352. 


24  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

past  wrongs  as  far  as  possible,  the  Empress 
Dowager  immediately  decided  to  conclude  peace 
with  the  European  Powers,  and  invested  Prince 
Ghing  and  Li  Hung  Chang  with  the  full  right  to 
effect  a  settlement.  To  emphasise  still  further 
her  extreme  regret  for  the  recent  outbreak,  she 
issued  edicts  thanking  the  southern  Viceroys  for 
having  protected  the  foreigners,  and  promoted 
Yuan  Shih-Kai  from  the  Governorship  of  Shantung 
to  the  Viceroyalty  of  Chihli. 

The  treaty  of  peace  was  definitely  signed  on 
September  7,  1901,  and  on  January  6,  1902,  the 
Imperial  Court  returned  to  Peking. 

It  was  to  a  greatly  altered  Peking  that  the 
Empress  Dowager  returned  on  that  winter 
morning. 

The  railway,  which  now  pierced  the  wall  of  the 
Chinese  city,  and  by  which  she  re-entered  her 
capital,  was  symbolical  of  the  changed  attitude  of 
the  Chinese  towards  foreign  methods. 

As  she  was  carried  through  the  streets  of  the 
Tartar  city  in  her  sedan  chair,  bowing  graciously 
to  the  numerous  foreigners  in  the  crowd,  it  must 
have  seemed  almost  incredible  to  the  latter  that 
this  kindly,  smiling  lady,  looking  out  upon  them 
from  the  yellow  curtains,  should  be  identical  with 
the  bloodthirsty  tyrant  who  had  ordered  their 
wholesale  extermination  but  two  years  before. 

The    guns    under    Count    von    Waldersee    had 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA  25 

succeeded  where  the  edicts  of  Kwanghsu  had 
failed,  and  China  had  awakened  to  the  urgent 
necessity  of  reform. 

The  general  demand  throughout  the  empire 
was  for  the  adoption  of  Western  methods  of 
government  and  for  a  system  of  education  con- 
ducted on  Western  lines. 

The  Empress  Dowager  now  put  herself  at  the 
head  of  the  Reform  party,  and  in  the  interval 
between  the  years  1902  and  1908  issued  a  series 
of  edicts  so  broadminded  in  conception  and  so 
far-reaching  in  effect  as  to  quite  extinguish  the 
comparatively  mild  efforts  formerly  attempted  in 
that  direction  by  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu. 

Reviewing  many  errors  in  the  past,  the  Empress 
Dowager  realised  as  one  of  the  most  serious  causes 
of  the  weakness  of  the  Ta  Tsing  dynasty  the 
edict  issued  by  the  first  Manchu  emperor  forbidding 
the  marriage  between  Manchus  and  Chinese. 

This  prohibition  had  prevented  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  races,  and  had  branded  the  line  of 
Nurhachu  as  an  alien  one  in  the  eyes  of  the 
majority  of  its  subjects.  The  Empress  promptly 
modified  this  prohibition,  decreeing  that  it  should 
henceforth  only  be  valid  in  cases  of  members 
belonging  to  the  Imperial  house.  On  this  occasion 
she  also  withdrew  the  command  making  the  wear- 
ing of  the  queue  obligatory,  and  allowed  it  to  be 
purely  optional  for  each  individual. 


/ 


/ 


26         RE- MAKING    OF     CHINA 

In  1903  the  Empress  Dowager  sustained  a 
severe  loss  in  the  death  of  Yung  Lu,  who  for  over 
forty  years  had  served  her  with  unswerving 
loyalty;  though  never  failing  boldly  to  speak  his 
mind  when  his  views  differed  from  hers. 

There  was  no  one  really  fit  to  fill  his  place  in 
the  estimation  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  but  in 
his  closest  personal  and  political  friend,  Yuan 
Shih-Kai,  who  was  at  this  moment  promoted  from 
the  Viceroyalty  of  Chihli  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
Waiwupu,  the  reorganised  Foreign  Office,  she 
found  many  qualities  most  useful  to  her  in  the 
difficult  task  of  carrying  her  new  policy  into 
effect. 

Yuan  threw  all  his  customary  energy  into 
furthering  the  Empress  Dowager's  projects  of 
reform,  and  employed  as  his  lieutenants  a  band 
of  brilliantly  clever  young  Cantonese  who  had 
been  educated  abroad,  amongst  these  the  subse- 
quently famous  Tang  Shao-yi. 

During  his  tenure  of  office  in  Shantung  and 
Chihli  Yuan  Shih-Kai  had  raised  a  considerable 
force  of  soldiers,  for  the  training  of  whom  he  had 
employed  foreign  instructors. 

The  Empress  Dowager  at  once  decided  that 
this  force,  destined  ultimately  to  become  the 
famous  "  Northern  Army,"  should  become  the 
nucleus  of  an  army  trained  according  to  the  most 
advanced  modern  system. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         27 

In  the  following  years  no  less  than  fourteen 
divisions  were  recruited. 

In  1906  the  Empress  Dowager  crowned  her  work 
of   reform   by   issuing   an   edict   which   promised 
Constitutional    Government    in    nine^^y^ars    from     l\ 
that  date. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai  had  been  the  author  of  the 
scheme  now  put  forward  by  the  Empress  Dowager, 
and  it  gives  wonderful  proof  of  his  cautious  and 
far-seeing  statesmanship.  The  first  move  was  to 
be  marked  by  the  establishment  of  Provincial 
Assemblies  in  each  of  the  eighteen  provinces,  to 
be  followed  a  few  years  later  by  the  founding  of 
a  National  Consultative  Assembly  in  Peking. 
Finally,  nine  years  having  sufficed  to  bring  home 
to  the  Chinese  people  the  advantages  accruing 
from  this  improved  system,  a  Parliament  in  the 
accepted  sense  of  the  word  was  to  be  elected,  and 
full  Constitutional  Government  granted  to  the 
nation.  It  was  very  unfortunate  for  the  success 
of  this  scheme  that  the  Empress  Dowager's 
vindictive  nature  did  not  allow  her  to  pardon 
Kang  Yu-wei  and  Liang  Chi-chao,  the  original 
founders  of  the  Constitutional  Reform  Movement. 
She  could  not  bring  herself  to  forgive  these  two 
men  for  plotting  to  dethrone  her.  They  were 
therefore  left  in  exile,  a  fact  which  fostered  the 
feeling  of  disaffection  still  prevailing  in  Southern 
China. 


r 


28         RE-MAKING     OF    CHINA 

The  year  1907  brought  with  it  the  last  of  the 
great  Reform  edicts,  which  did  away  with  poppy 
cultivation  throughout  China;  and,  simultaneously 
with  this  edict,  a  treaty  was  concluded  with 
Great  Britain  having  for  its  object  the  gradual 
cessation  of  the  opium  traffic  between  India  and 
China.  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was  the  prime  mover  in 
this  salutary  reform. 

Early  in  1908  the  declining  health  of  the  Emperor 
Kwanghsu  made  it  necessary  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  selection  of  a  new  heir  to  the  throne — all 
the  more  as  the  degradation  after  the  Boxer 
revolt  of  the  former  heir  apparent  son  of  Prince 
Tuan  had  put  an  end  to  his  candidature.  The 
choice  lay  between  two  members  of  the  Imperial 
family,  the  one  was  Prince  Pu  Lun,  a  grandson  by 
adoption  of  the  Emperor  Tao  Kwang,  and  the 
other.  Prince  Pu  Yi,  a  child  of  five,  the  son  of 
Kwanghsu's  brother,  Prince  Chun,  and  a  maternal 
grandson  of  Yung  Lu. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai  supported  the  claim  of  Prince 
Pu  Lun,  partly  for  personal  reasons  and  largely 
because  he  honestly  believed  him  to  be  the  ablest 
and  most  progressive  of  the  younger  Imperial 
Princes. 

The  Empress  Dowager,  however,  decided  in 
favour  of  the  boy  Pu  Yi,  wishing,  as  she  said, 
hereby  to  prove  her  gratitude  to  the  memory  of 
Yung  Lu  for  his  lifelong  devotion  to  her  person. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         29 

Pu  Yi  was  accordingly  proclaimed  heir  ap- 
parent. The  unfortunate  Emperor  Kwanghsu 
breathed  his  last  on  the  14th  of  November,  1908, 
and  the  Empress  Dowager,  who  had  been  failing  in 
health  for  a  considerable  time,  passed  away  on 
the  following  day. 

We  have  already  dealt  fully  with  the  character 
of  Kwanghsu;  the  Empress  Dowager  presents  a 
far  more  complex  study. 

Tzu  Hsi  has  been  compared  to  most  of  the  great 
women  who  have  occupied  thrones  in  the  East 
and  West ;  perhaps  the  most  apt  comparison  has 
been  that  likening  her  to  Catherine  the  Great. 
She  shared  with  the  Empress  Catherine  her  loyalty 
in  friendship  and  her  vindictiveness  as  an  enemy. 

Her  main  characteristic  was  her  extraordinary 
adaptability  to  change,  so  strikingly  exemplified 
in  her  complete  volte  face  from  an  extreme  policy 
of  reaction  to  one  of  advanced  reform. 

Prince  Pu  Yi  was  proclaimed  emperor  immedi- 
ately after  the  death  of  Kwanghsu,  under  the  name 
of  Hsuan  Tung,  but  being  a  minor,  his  father,  Prince 
Chun,  assumed  the  Regency. 

Up  to  the  time  of  his  becoming  Regent,  Prince 
Chun  had  not  played  any  part  which  could  have 
brought  him  much  before  the  public;  the  only 
facts  generally  known  with  regard  to  him  in 
Peking  were  his  strong  affection  for  his  unfortunate 
brother  Kwanghsu,  and  consequently  his  hatred 


30  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

of  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  who  had,  by  his  conduct  towards 
the  Emperor  in  1898,  caused  his  subsequent 
misery. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai  was  fully  aware  of  Prince  Chun's 
irreconcilable  attitude,  and  it  was  this  knowledge 
which  had  prompted  him  to  oppose  the  choice 
of  Prince  Pu  Yi  as  emperor,  necessitating  as  it 
did  the  elevation  of  Prince  Chun  to  the  Regency. 

Subsequent  events  proved  how  justified  were 
Yuan  Shih-Kai's  forebodings.  In  January  1909 
the  Regent  issued  an  edict  in  the  name  of  the 
Boy  Emperor,  dismissing  Yuan  from  all  his  posts, 
divesting  him  of  all  his  honours,  and  finally  exiling 
him  to  his  home  in  Honan. 

At  first  there  were  many  sympathisers  with  the 
Regent's  motives  in  dismissing  Yuan,  but  as  the 
real  trend  of  Prince  Chun's  policy  became  more 
widely  known  their  number  diminished  and  gradu- 
ally dwindled  away.  One  of  the  outstanding 
features  of  the  Empress  Dowager's  programme  of 
reform  had  been  to  place  the  Chinese  and  Manchu 
officials  in  the  service  of  the  State  on  a  footing 
of  absolute  equality. 

The  Regent  most  unwisely  proceeded  to  restore 
the  former  prominence  of  the  Manchu  element, 
and  conferred  the  highest  offices  of  state  on  his 
own  close  relatives  or  on  unreliable  and  incom- 
petent Manchu  officials.  The  disastrous  effect  of 
this  change  of  policy  soon  became  apparent. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         31 

Able  Chinese  officials,  hitherto  loyal  servants  of 
the  dynasty,  began  to  waver  in  their  allegiance,  and 
gradually  turned  towards  the  Tung  Meng  Hui 
(the  sworn  brotherhood),  a  revolutionary  organisa- 
tion of  which  Sun  Yat-sen  was  the  leader. 

This  disaffection  promptly  spread  to  the  troops 
of  the  Lu  Chun  or  Modern  Army,  amongst  which 
Sun  Yat-sen  had  for  years  carried  on  a  violent 
propaganda. 

The  Regent  opened  the  first  session  of  the  Tzu 
Cheng  Yuan,  or  the  Consultative  Senate,  in  state 
on  the  3rd  of  October  1910. 

The  opening  ceremony  took  place  amid  what 
appeared  to  be  great  rejoicing,  and  Prince  Chun 
was  greeted  with  every  sign  of  outward  loyalty 
by  the  members  of  the  Assembly,  but  to  many 
who  watched  his  progress  to  the  Senate  and  his 
return  to  the  Forbidden  City  it  was  obvious  that 
the  rejoicings  were  forced  and  the  loyalty  hollow. 

Subsequent  events  in  China  must  recall  to  many 
the  early  chapters  of  the  French  Revolution,  for, 
just  as  the  opening  by  Louis  XVI  of  the  French 
States  General  in  1789  had  marked  the  prelude 
to  that  Revolution,  so  the  opening  by  Prince  Chun 
of  the  Tzu  Cheng  Yuan  in  1910  was  the  raising  of 
the  curtain  on  the  Chinese  Revolutionary  Drama. 

The  first  demand  of  the  Tzu  Cheng  Yuan  was 
the  appointment  of  a  regular  Cabinet  in  place  of 
the  Grand  Council. 


32         RE-MAKING     OF    CHINA 

The  Regent  complied  with  this  perfectly  reason- 
able demand,  but  completely  nullified  the  good 
effect  produced  by  his  acquiescence  in  appointing 
to  the  post  of  China's  first  Prime  Minister  Prince 
Ching.  This  man  was  generally  and  quite  cor- 
rectly looked  upon  as  the  most  reactionary  of  the 
Imperial  Princes,  and  had,  in  addition,  shown 
himself  most  incompetent  in  matters  of  any  great 
importance. 

With  the  exception  of  a  rebellion  in  Szechwan, 
due  mainly  to  local  causes,  the  summer  and  early 
autumn  of  1911  proved  peaceful  in  China. 

This  peace,  however,  was  purely  superficial,  and 
was  really  tlje^  deceptive  calm  which  so  often  in 
the  East  heralds  the  coming  storm.  The  Manchu 
dynasty  had  in  truth  exhausted  the  Mandate  of 
Heaven,  and  the  hour  of  its  downfall  was  close 
at  hand. 

On  October  9,  1911,  the  accidental  explosion  of 
a  bomb  in  a  house  in  the  Russian  Concession  at 
Hankow  revealed  the  existence  of  a  revolutionary 
plot  in  that  city. 

Jui  Cheng,  the  Viceroy  of  Wuchang,  ordered 
over  thirty  arrests  in  connection  with  the  plot, 
telegraphing  immediately  afterwards  to  the 
Regent  to  inform  him  that  he  had  completely 
crushed  the  rebels.  This  information,  however, 
was,  to  say  the  least,  premature,  for  at  eight  o'clock 
on  the  evening  of  October  10  the  troops  of    the 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         33 

modern  army,  forming  the  garrison  of  Wuchang, 
suddenly  rose  in  revolt,  and,  sweeping  aside  the 
loyal  troops,  a  handful  in  number  as  compared 
to  themselves,  commenced  a  furious  attack  upon 
the  Viceregal  Yamen.  A  loyal  regiment  of 
cavalry  attempted  to  defend  the  representative 
of  its  sovereign,  but  Jui  Cheng,  realising  that 
resistance  was  fruitless,  fled  under  cover  of  darkness 
to  a  gunboat  at  anchor  some  distance  up  the 
Yangtze.  The  triumphant  rebels  elected  as  their 
leader  Colonel  Li  Yuan-hung,  who  had  previously 
commanded  the  21st  Mixed  Brigade  at  Wuchang. 

This  choice  was  to  be  fraught  with  momentous 
consequences  for  China.  Li  Yuan-hung  was  a 
native  of  Hupeh  and  a  most  able  officer,  who  had 
received  his  military  training  partly  in  Japan. 
He  had  not  joined  the  rebels  until  after  the  actual 
outbreak,  and,  whilst  believing  as  honestly  as 
Sun  Yat-sen  himself  that  China's  only  chance  of 
progress  lay  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Manchu 
dynasty,  his  political  views  differed  widely  from 
those  of  the  leader  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui.  For 
the  moment  both  worked  for  a  common  object, 
but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  whilst 
Sun  Yat-sen  desired  a  Republic,  Li  Yuan-hung 
inclined  towards  a  Constitutional  Monarchy  with 
a  Chinese  ruler  at  its  head. 

By  the  evening  of  October  11  the  Revolutionaries 
were   supreme   in   the   three   cities   of   Wuchang, 


84         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

Hankow  and  Hanyang,  and  had  occupied  the 
great  arsenal  of  Hanyang,  containing  a  large 
supply  of  arms,  ammunition  and  money. 

In  addition  to  these  successes  the  Revolutionaries 
had  also  won  over  the  Hupeh  Provincial  Assembly, 
which  had  joined  their  ranks,  and  its  President, 
Tang  Hua-lung,  a  most  distinguished  classical 
scholar,  had  been  appointed  by  Li  Yuan-hung  to 
one  of  the  most  important  posts  in  the  Provisional 
Government. 

With  the  capture  of  the  "  three  cities "  the 
great  Province  of  Hupeh  came  under  the  rule  of 
Li  Yuan-hung  and  the  revolutionary  army,  and 
there  now  remained  for  him  to  gain  the  support  of 
as  many  of  the  other  seventeen  provinces  as  possible 
and,  thus  strengthened,  to  await  the  counter-move 
on  the  part  of  the  Manchus. 

He  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  the  Regent,  realising 
the  necessity  for  prompt  action  if  he  wished  to 
crush  the  revolt,  dispatched  two  divisions  of  the 
northern  army  commanded  by  a  Manchu,  General 
Yin  Chang,  Minister  of  War,  to  Hankow  on  October 
15,  and  also  sent  out  a  naval  squadron  under  the 
command  of  Admiral  Sah  Chen-ping.  All  these 
measures,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  Chinese 
Republic  proclaimed  by  Li  Yuan-hung  from  gaining 
a  firm  foothold. 

On  October  18,  the  important  treaty  port  of 
Ichang  went  over  to  the  Revolutionaries.     On  the 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA        35 

22nd  of  that  month  Changsha,  the  capital  of 
Hunan,  followed  suit,  as  did  also  one  day  later 
the  town  of  Kiukiang.  The  climax  was  reached 
shortly  afterwards  by  Sianfu,  the  capital  of 
Shensi,  declaring  for  the  Republic. 

The  sailors  of  Admiral  Sah's  squadron,  then  lying 
off  Wuchang,  saw  their  commander  safely  on  shore 
and  then  replaced  the  Dragon  Flag  by  hoisting 
the  White  Star  on  a  blue  ground,  first  Ensign  of 
the  Chinese  Republic. 

The  defection  of  Sianfu,  which  was  followed  by 
a  terrible  massacre  of  Manchus  in  that  city, 
struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  Imperial 
clansmen.  Up  to  the  present  open  disaffection 
had  been  limited  to  the  southern  provinces,  but  it 
now  became  evident  that  it  was  spreading  to  the 
North. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  Wuchang 
revolt  on  October  10  Prince  Chun  was  forced  into 
the  realisation  of  the  danger  threatening  the 
dynasty,  and  with  this  realisation  the  conviction 
was  thrust  upon  him  that  there  was  one  man  only, 
the  man  whom  he  hated  and  whose  official  career 
he  had  destroyed,  who  could  save  it  from  downfall. 

As  early  as  October  14,  and  therefore  prior  to 
the  fall  of  Sianfu,  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  the  exile  of 
Changtefu,  was  recalled  to  save  those  who  had 
dismissed  him.  On  the  14th  of  October  the 
Regent  issued  an  edict  recalling  Yuan  Shih-Kai, 


36         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

and  appointing  him  Viceroy  of  Hukuang  and 
Generalissimo  of  the  naval  and  mihtary  forces 
engaged  in  the  investment  of  the  three  cities. 
Yuan  Shih-Kai,  after  a  fortnight's  delay,  in  which 
he  was  evidently  weighing  the  pros  and  eons  of 
the  posts  offered  to  him,  telegraphed  his  acceptance 
of  the  offices,  but  he  had  hardly  left  his  exile 
before  circumstances  arose  which  called  him  to  far 
greater  power. 

A  telegraphic  memorial  from  General  Chang 
Shao  Tseng,  in  command  of  the  20th  Division  at 
Lanchow,  reached  Peking  early  in  November, 
demanding  the  immediate  granting  of  a  constitu- 
tion to  China.  The  Regent  was  obliged  to  comply 
with  this  demand.  The  constitution  embodied  as 
its  two  principal  articles,  first,  that  no  member  of 
the  Imperial  Clan  should  be  eligible  for  office  in 
the  Cabinet,  and  second,  that  the  right  of  electing 
the  Premier  should  be  vested  in  the  Tzu  Cheng 
Yuan. 

The  first  of  these  articles  naturally  compelled 
Prince  Ching  to  resign  the  Premiership  and 
rendered  necessary  the  election  of  a  new  Premier. 

The  Tzu  Cheng  Yuan  held  a  special  session  on 
the  8th  of  November,  1911,  and  unanimously 
elected  Yuan  Shih-Kai  as  first  Constitutional 
Prime  Minister  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 


CHAPTER    IV 

Contradictory  traits  in  Yuan  Shih-Kai's  character — Analysis 
of  his  policy — His  secret  negotiations  with  Sun  Yat-sen  and 
their  failure — The  Revolution — Yuan  Shih-Kai's  opportunity 
— Recall  of  General  Yin  Chang — Yuan  Shih-Kai  determines 
to  crush  the  Republican  party — Capture  of  Hankow  and 
Hanyang — Fruitless  negotiations  between  Yuan  Shih-Kai 
and  Li  Yuan-hung  owing  to  disagreement  on  Yuan's  part  with 
Li  Yuan-hung's  suggestions — Realisation  by  Yuan  of  the 
impossibility  of  saving  the  Manchu  dynasty — Failure  to 
conclude  foreign  loan — Revolutionaries  generally  in  the 
ascendant — Revolt  reaches  Nanking — Political  and  military 
conditions  in  that  city — Disloyalty  of  troops  trained  on 
modem  principles  and  their  disarmament  by  the  Viceroy — 
Re -armament  of  the  modem  troops  and  their  withdrawal 
from  Nanking — Viceroy's  attempt  to  surrender  Nanking 
overruled  by  the  Tartar  General — General  Chang  Hsun 
arbiter  of  the  fate  of  Nanking — His  character  and  policy. 
— Chang  Hsun's  offer  to  sell  Nanking  refused — Decision  on 
his  part  to  support  the  djuasty — Reign  of  terror  in  Nanking 
— Advance  of  the  Republican  forces — Siege  of  the  city — 
Storming  and  capture  by  the  Republican  forces  of  Purple 
Mountain — Terms  of  peace  arranged — Evacuation  by  the 
Imperialists  of  Nanking  and  occupation  of  the  city  by  the 
Republicans — Effect  of  these  events  on  Yuan  Shih-Kai's 
policy — Armistice  concluded  at  Wuchang — Objections  by 
Republican  leaders  to  Wuchang  as  seat  of  the  Peace  Conference 
proposed  by  Yuan — Conference  transferred  to  Shanghai — 
Appointment  of  Tang  Shao-yi  as  principal  Imperial  Delegate 
— His  relations  with  Yuan — Intrigues  against  Yuan  and 
attempted  assassination — His  position  strengthened — Demand 
of  a  Republic  by  Imperialist  Generals — Abdication  of  the 
Manchus — Revolutionary  Assembly  meets  at  Nanking — Sun 
Yat-sen  elected  Provisional  President  of  the  Chinese  Republic 
— Political  effects  of  the  change  of  government — Sun  Yat-sen 
resigns,  recommending  Yuan  as  his  successor — His  election 
as  Provisional  President — A  defence  of  his  conduct — The 
task  before  him. 

Amongst  the  many  complex  characters  figuring 
prominently   in    Chinese    history,    there    is    none 

37 


38         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

presenting  so  many  contradictory  traits  as  the 
character  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai.  His  career  betrays 
several  examples  of  unscrupulous  actions  when 
wishing  to  advance  his  aims  and  still  further 
ascend  the  ladder  of  fame,  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  it 
also  affords  proof  of  extraordinary  loyalty;  as 
in  the  case  of  his  refusal  to  accept  the  Viceroyalty 
of  Chihli  at  the  cost  of  the  execution  of  his  friend 
Yung  Lu. 

It  is  especially  in  the  part  played  by  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  in  the  Chinese  Revolution  that  these 
conflicting  traits  come  into  prominence. 

Opinions  remain  divided  as  to  Yuan's  real 
policy  as  Premier,  some  holding  that  he  remained 
loyal  in  word  and  deed  to  the  Manchu  dynasty, 
others  again  maintaining  his  policy  to  have  been 
a  treacherous  one,  since  it  allowed  him  to  see  the 
fall  of  the  dynasty  when  it  was  in  his  power  to 
save  it.  In  face  of  this  reproach,  it  is  only  fair 
to  state  that  Yuan's  strong  sentiment  of  loyalty 
towards  the  Ta  Tsing  dynasty  received  its  death- 
blow at  the  time  of  his  dismissal  by  the  Regent 
and  of  the  abandonment  of  all  his  cherished 
schemes  of  reform.  His  equivocal  position  was 
rendered  still  more  difficult  by  his  unswerving 
belief  in  a  monarchical  form  of  government. 

His  real  wish  was  for  a  Constitutional  Monarchy 
which,  whilst  retaining  the  Manchu  dynasty  on 
the  throne  "  as  "  (to  quote  his  own  words)  "  an 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         39 

emblem  of  monarchy,"  would  vest  the  entire 
executive  government  of  the  empire  in  the  Prime 
Minister,  in  whom  he  saw  no  less  a  person  than 
himself. 

At  this  very  critical  period  of  his  career  he  never 
swerved  in  his  loyalty  to  his  country  and  his 
countrymen,  and  was  resolved  by  all  means  in 
his  power  to  protect  both  from  the  horrors  of 
civil  war. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  a  man  of  such 
far-reaching  ambitions  should  be  determined  to 
take  advantage  of  the  state  of  chaos  then  prevail- 
ing to  further  his  own  plans,  which  culminated  in 
his  desire  for  supremacy  in  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

For  the  moment  the  Premiership  satisfied  him, 
but  there  is  little  if  any  doubt  that  he  looked  upon 
that  office  merely  as  a  stepping-stone  to  one  far 
more  august  in  character.  Even  in  the  days  of 
his  extreme  favour  with  the  Empress  Dowager, 
there  were  some  of  his  enemies  who  openly  accused 
him  of  designs  upon  the  throne.  There  is  no 
reason  to  treat  these  accusations  as  anything  but 
calumny,  but  the  apparent  loyalty  to  the  Ta  Tsing 
dynasty  which  Yuan  displayed  after  his  dismissal 
by  Prince  Chun  is  open  to  doubt. 

We  have  Dr.  Sun  Yat-sen's  authority  for  stating 
that  some  time  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tion Yuan  Shih-Kai  made  certain  proposals  to 
him.    Their  exact  nature  has  remained  a  secret, 


40         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

but  from  the  mere  fact  that  Sun  Yat-sen  would 
only  have  entertained  a  scheme  having  for  its 
object  the  overthrow  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  we 
must  conclude  that  Yuan,  when  approaching  him, 
was  actuated  by  the  same  motives. 

Yuan  was  perfectly  aware  that,  with  the  fall  of 
the  Manchu  dynasty,  the  throne  could  easily  be 
gained  by  a  strong  man  who  could  count  upon  the 
allegiance  of  the  army,  and  with  this  knowledge 
came  the  conviction  that  the  flower  of  the  modern 
army  in  China,  which  owed  its  whole  being  to  him, 
would  follow  him  to  the  death.  If  any  of  these 
motives  were  at  the  back  of  his  mind  when  he 
approached  Sun  Yat-sen,  he  was  doomed  to  instant 
disappointment,  for  the  leader  of  the  Tung  Meng 
Hui  was  a  convinced  Republican. 

In  any  case  this  can  only  be  looked  upon  as  a 
temporary  set-back.  Being  indispensable  to  the 
Manchus  he  was  in  a  position  to  make  his  own 
terms,  and  it  was  his  action  in  making  his  accept- 
ance of  the  Wuchang  Viceroyalty  conditional  on 
the  recall  of  General  Yin  Chang  from  the  command 
of  the  Imperial  forces  in  Hupeh  which  so  strongly 
revived  the  doubts  as  to  his  loyalty  to  the  Ta 
Tsing  dynasty. 

Yuan  knew  Yin  Chang  to  be  a  most  able  and 
competent  officer  who  had  received  his  military 
training  in  Germany  and,  as  President  of  the 
Republic,  he  has  since  given  proof  of  his  confidence 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         41 

in  him  by  appointing  him  Chief  of  the  General 
Staff,  a  post  he  occupies  at  the  present  moment.^ 

What  reason,  therefore,  could  Yuan  have  had  for 
insisting  upon  his  recall  at  that  time  beyond  the  fact 
that  he  was  of  Manchu  origin,  and  therefore  likely 
to  be  a  loyal  adherent  of  the  House  of  Nurhachu  ? 

With  that  wonderful  foresight  which  has  been 
such  a  great  asset  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai  throughout  his 
notable  career,  he  anticipated  the  moment  when  it 
might  be  imperative  for  the  good  of  his  country  in 
the  first  place,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  his  own 
ambitions  in  the  second,  to  abandon  the  Manchus  to 
their  fate ;  and  in  such  a  crisis  he  desired  to  have,  as 
Commander  of  the  Imperial  forces,  a  man  of  his  own 
race  who  would  unquestioningly  obey  his  orders. 

This  man  he  found  in  the  person  of  General 
Feng  Kuo-Chang,  who  was  of  purest  Chinese  origin. 

The  Premiership  and  the  supreme  command  of 
the  Imperial  forces  placed  Yuan  Shih-Kai  in  the 
exceptional  position  of  military  dictator. 

Immediately  after  forming  his   Cabinet,   Yuan 

Shih-Kai  issued  orders  to  General  Feng  Kuo-Chang 

to  press  forward  the   Imperialist  attack  on  the 

"  three  cities,"  which  resulted    on  November  11 

in  the  capture  and  destruction  of    Hankow,  this 

being  followed  on  November  27  by  the  capture  of 

the  city  and  arsenal  of  Hanyang. 

^  Since  writing  this  Yin  Chang  has  been  transferred  to  the 
Vice-Presidency  of  the  Presidential  Bureau,  and  a  Director  of 
Military  and  Naval  affairs. 


42  RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

Between  the  fall  of  Hankow  and  the  capture 
of  Hanyang,  Yuan  dispatched  envoys  to  Wuchang 
entrusted  with  the  mission  to  try  and  bring  about 
a  peaceful  settlement  on  the  terms  of  a  Consti- 
tutional Monarchy,  the  Emperor  Hsuan  Tung 
remaining  the  figurehead.  Li  Yuan-hung's  only 
reply  to  these  proposals  was  the  suggestion  that 
Yuan  should  depose  the  reigning  dynasty  and  invest 
himself  with  the  Imperial  dignity.  This  sugges- 
tion, which  was  in  striking  contrast  to  the  Re- 
publican sentiments  previously  expressed  by  Li 
Yuan-hung,  although  very  flattering  to  his  pride, 
did  not  commend  itself  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  and 
that  for  a  very  obvious  reason. 

Whilst  enjoying  immense  popularity  in  the 
North,  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was  still  execrated  south 
of  the  Yangtze,  owing  to  his  deception  of  the 
Emperor  Kwanghsu  and  the  Cantonese  Reformer, 
Kang  Yu-wei. 

Yuan  foresaw  that  any  attempt  on  his  part  to 
obtain  recognition  as  Emperor  in  the  southern 
provinces  would  be  met  by  strong  resistance. 

In  spite  of  his  refusal  at  that  moment  to  give 
Li  Yuan-hung's  suggestion  that  he  should  seize 
the  throne  himself  serious  consideration.  Yuan 
very  soon  realised  that  it  had  become  impossible 
to  preserve  the  Manchu  dynasty. 

In  the  first  place,  his  efforts  to  conclude  a  loan 
of  six  millions  sterling  with  a  Foreign  Syndicate 


RE- MAKING     OF     CHINA  43 

had  been  unsuccessful,  and  therefore  the  necessary 
funds  to  carry  on  the  mihtary  operations  were 
lacking;  and  the  second  obstacle  lay  in  the  fact 
that  the  Revolutionary  cause  had  triumphed  in 
all  the  southern  and  in  most  of  the  northern 
provinces.  The  irrepressible  tide  of  revolt  was 
gaining  hold  throughout  the  country,  and  finally 
reached  the  only  hitherto  quiet  spot  in  Southern 
China,  the  historic  city  of  Nanking.  The  political 
and  military  conditions  prevailing  in  Nanking 
towards  the  end  of  October  1911  were  peculiarly 
complex  in  character. 

The  Government  was,  so  to  speak,  a  dual  one, 
for  though  the  supreme  authority  was  vested  in 
the  Viceroy  Chang  Jen-chun,  this  authority  was 
to  a  certain  extent  shared  by  the  Tartar  General 
Tieh  Liang,  an  ex-Boxer  and  a  bitter  enemy  of 
Yuan  Shih-Kai. 

As  regards  the  military  conditions,  there  were 
three  distinct  forces  in  Nanking  which  consisted 
of  5500  modern  trained  Chinese  commanded  by 
General  Hsu  Shao  Cheng,  6000  old  style  Chinese 
commanded  by  General  Chang  Hsun,  and  2000 
Manchu  soldiers  under  the  command  of  the  Tartar 
General  Tieh  Liang. 

The  Viceroy  was  fully  alive  to  the  fact  that 
General  Hsu  Shao  Cheng  and  the  modern  troops 
under  his  command  were  completely  seditious. 
He  promptly  decided  upon  their  disarmament  by 


44         RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

means  of  the  very  simple  expedient  of  withdrawing 
the  bolts  from  their  rifles. 

Unfortunately  this  bold  stroke  by  Chang  Jen- 
chun  was  followed  by  a  fatal  act  of  weakness  on 
his  part.  The  disarmed  soldiers,  knowing  the 
Manchu  portion  of  the  garrison  to  be  bitterly 
hostile  to  them,  pleaded  for  the  restoration  of 
their  arms  as  a  protection  against  a  possible 
massacre,  promising  if  they  were  restored  to  them 
to  retire  peacefully  to  Molingkuan,  about  fifteen 
miles  south  of  Nanking.  In  a  moment  of  weakness 
the  Viceroy  relented,  and  on  October  29  General 
Hsu  Shao  Cheng  and  his  troops,  fully  armed  and 
with  a  plentiful  supply  of  ammunition,  evacuated 
Nanking  and  encamped  at  Molingkuan. 

On  November  6,  the  Viceroy  received  the  royal 
authorisation  to  nominate  Chang  Chien,  a  very 
able  man,  and  at  the  time  President  of  the 
Provincial  Assembly,  Governor  of  Nanking. 

This  step,  which  was  equivalent  to  surrendering 
Nanking  to  the  Revolutionaries,  was  absolutely 
vetoed  by  the  Tartar  General  Tieh  Liang,  who 
declared  emphatically  that  the  Imperial  edict  was 
a  forgery. 

It  was,  however,  neither  with  the  Viceroy  nor  the 
Tartar  General  that  the  fate  of  Nanking  rested, 
but  with  the  Commander  of  the  old  style  Chinese 
troops.  General  Chang  Hsun,  who  has  since  gained 
such  notoriety. 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         45 

In  Chang  Hsun  we  have  a  typical  example  of 
the  Eastern  soldier  of  fortune,  totally  uneducated, 
unscrupulous,  yet  undoubtedly  possessing  a  certain 
strength  of  purpose  and  personal  magnetism  which 
has  made  him  an  object  almost  of  worship  to  his 
soldiers. 

His  policy,  a  very  simple  one,  was  to  throw  in 
his  lot  with  whichever  party  seemed  the  most 
likely  one  to  come  into  power.  His  opportunity 
was  not  long  in  coming. 

On  November  8,  a  sudden  attack  was  made  on 
the  Viceregal  Yamen  by  a  portion  of  the  Chinese 
garrison  of  the  city,  which  was  repulsed  by  Chang 
Hsun,  who^  taking  advantage  of  the  disturbance, 
proclaimed  martial  law  in  Nanking  and  offered 
the  city  to  the  Revolutionaries.  They  declined 
the  offer,  whereupon  Chang  Hsun  immediately 
proclaimed  himself  an  Imperialist.  This  was  the 
signal  for  a  reign  of  terror  in  Nanking. 

On  that  same  8th  of  November,  Chang  Hsun 
sent  his  soldiers  to  make  an  active  search  for 
Revolutionaries  throughout  the  city,  and  at  night 
no  less  than  four  hundred  executions  took  place; 
any  man  found  not  wearing  the  queue,  the  Manchu 
badge  of  Imperialism,  being  mercilessly  put  to  death. 

Whilst  these  horrors  were  taking  place  at 
Nanking,  General  Hsu  Shao  Cheng  had  withdrawn 
from  Molingkuan  to  Chinkiang,  where  he  openly 
declared  in  favour  of  the  Republic  and  announced 


46         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

his  intention  to  attempt  the  capture  of  Nanking. 
On  November  17  the  advance  guard  of  his  forces 
came  into  colHsion  with  the  troops  of  Chang 
Hsun,  and  on  the  24th  he  arrived  at  the  gates  of 
Nanking  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  15,000  men, 
reinforced  by  a  naval  squadron  from  Shanghai. 
The  siege  of  Nanking  now  commenced  in  deadly 
earnest,  accompanied  by  most  severe  fighting, 
remarkable  bravery  being  shown  on  both  sides. 

With  all  their  courage,  however,  Chang  Hsun's 
old  style  "  braves  "  were  no  match  for  the  trained 
soldiers  of  Hsu  Shao  Cheng,  and  early  on  the 
morning  of  December  1  the  Republican  Com- 
mander issued  orders  for  the  storming  of  Purple 
Mountain,  the  key  to  Nanking. 

The  indomitable  bravery  with  which  this  most 
perilous  order  was  carried  out  proves  conclusively 
that  when  properly  led  by  a  commander  in  whom 
they  have  confidence,  Chinese  soldiers  can  die  as 
bravely  as  any  army  of  the  world. 

In  face  of  a  terrific  fire,  with  their  comrades 
falling  all  around  them  and  with  practically  no 
cover  to  protect  them,  the  Republican  troops 
charged  unflinchingly  up  the  steep  slopes. 

By  noon  the  White  Star  of  the  Republic  floated 
from  the  summit  of  Purple  Mountain  and  Nanking 
was  practically  won. 

By  the  following  morning  terms  of  peace  had 
been    agreed    upon,    General    Hsu    Shao    Cheng 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA  47 

generously  undertaking  to  protect  the  Manchu 
inhabitants  of  the  city  and  to  allow  General  Chang 
Hsun  to  march  out  at  the  head  of  his  army. 

On  the  evening  of  that  day  Nanking  was  evacu- 
ated by  General  Chang  Hsun,  and  General  Hsu 
Shao  Cheng  had  entered  into  occupation. 

The  marching  out  from  Nanking  of  General 
Chang  Hsun,  at  the  head  of  his  old  style  braves, 
is  a  symbol  of  the  passing  away  for  ever  of  the 
cruel,  barbaric,  yet  picturesque  China,  whilst  the 
occupation  of  the  city  by  General  Hsu  Shao  Cheng 
and  his  following  of  smart,  modern  soldiers  marks 
the  advent  of  the  new  China  arising  from  the 
ashes  of  bygone  days  and  conscious  of  its  strength 
and  power. 

The  Republican  party  gaining  immensely  in 
prestige  by  the  fall  of  Nanking,  Yuan  Shih-Kai  saw 
the  futility  of  any  further  attempt  to  save  the 
Manchu  dynasty.  His  next  move  therefore  was 
to  open  negotiations  with  the  Republican  leaders. 
At  first  sight  this  volte  face  on  Yuan's  part  would 
appear  strange  in  a  man  known  to  be  such  a  strong 
supporter  of  the  monarchical  principle.  It  is, 
however,  quite  a  popular  belief  amongst  his  own 
countrymen  that  Yuan,  who  was  fully  conversant 
with  the  history  of  Napoleon  I  and  III,  meant  to 
emulate  their  example,  knowing  that  in  both  cases 
the  Chief  Magistracy  was  but  a  stepping-stone 
towards  the  throne. 


■  ii  ■imiiMiHWfUMtWM 


48  RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

Whatever  Yuan's  real  thoughts  and  intentions, 
he  kept  them  a  close  secret. 

On  November  30,  Yuan  concluded  an  armistice 
with  General  Li  Yuan-hung,  who  was  still  in  posses- 
sion of  Wuchang,  and  immediately  after  proposed 
that  a  Peace  Conference  should  be  held  in  that 
city,  appointing  as  Chief  Imperialist  Delegate  his 
old  subordinate  in  Chihli,  Tang  Shao-yi. 

The  leaders  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui,  however,  who 
were  controlling  from  Shanghai  the  affairs  of  those 
provinces  which  had  accepted  the  Republican  rule, 
insisted  upon  the  conference  being  held  in  the 
latter  city.  The  reason  for  this  demand  was  that 
the  action  of  Li  Yuan-hung,  in  first  suggesting  that 
Yuan  Shih-Kai  should  seize  the  throne  and  then 
declaring  himself  ready  to  accept  a  Constitutional 
Monarchy  under  the  Manchus,  had  cast  serious 
doubts  upon  his  loyalty  and  had  given  grounds  to 
the  fear  that  a  conference  in  Wuchang  might  result 
in  the  Republic  being  signed  away. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai  offered  no  resistance  to  the  Peace 
Conference  being  held  in  Shanghai.  The  principal 
delegate  on  the  Republican  side  was  Wu-Ting-fang, 
formerly  Chinese  Minister  to  the  United  States, 
whilst,  as  has  been  said  before,  Tang  Shao-yi 
represented  the  Monarchy.  The  ostensible  object 
of  Yuan  in  arranging  this  conference  was  to  nego- 
tiate an  agreement  with  the  Republican  leaders, 
which,  while  it  retained  the  Manchu  dynasty  on  the 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         49 

throne,  would  ensure  to  the  Chinese  Empire  a  Liberal 
constitution  and  a  better  government  than  it  had 
hitherto  enjoyed.  The  first  action  of  Tang  Shao-yi, 
however,  was  to  declare  himself  at  the  opening 
meeting  of  the  conference  in  favour  of  a  Republic 
as  being  the  form  of  government  most  suitable  for 
China,  and  his  next  to  agree  to  the  election  of  a 
National  Convention  to  decide  the  question  whether 
the  Manchu  dynasty  should  continue  to  reign  or 
whether  it  should  be  deposed  and  a  Republic  take 
its  place. 

Tang  Shao-yi  firmly  relied  upon  being  able  to 
influence  the  elections  so  as  to  assure  a  Republican 
majority  in  the  Convention,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  only  agreed  to  the  National  Convention 
scheme  because  he  felt  convinced  that  that  body 
would  decide  in  favour  of  the  Republican  form  of 
government,  and  also  that  from  the  beginning  of 
the  conference  until  the  day  it  broke  up  he  was 
acting  in  the  interests  of  the  Republican  and  not 
of  the  Imperialist  party.  This  is  proved  by  his 
abandoning  the  Manchu  cause  in  agreeing  to  the 
evacuation  by  the  Imperialist  forces  of  Hankow  and 
Hanyang.  When  this  was  known  the  Imperialist 
Generals  protested  and  the  conference  broke  up. 
Tang  Shao-yi  had,  however,  ruined  whatever  chance 
the  Manchus  may  have  had  of  retaining  the  throne ; 
for  the  northern  troops  were  gradually  withdrawn 
from  Hanyang  and  Hankow,  and  the  Revolutionary 


50         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

party  were  encouraged  by  Tang  Shao-yi's  support  to 
demand  the  immediate  abdication  of  the  Emperor, 
without  even  the  formaUty  of  a  National  Conven- 
tion. Henceforth  the  Repubhc  was  assured,  and  this 
mainly  through  the  action  of  the  principal  Imperi- 
alist Delegate  to  the  Shanghai  Conference,  who  was 
also  the  nominee  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai  and  one  of  his 
closest  friends. 

The  question  now  arises,  was  Yuan  in  any  way 
a  party  to  Tang  Shao-yi's  action  at  the  conference,  or 
did  the  latter  betray  Yuan  as  well  as  the  Manchus  ? 
Now  some  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of 
the  foreign  community  in  China  take  the  view 
that  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was,  from  the  time  when  he 
accepted  the  Premiership  until  the  day  the  Em- 
peror abdicated,  absolutely  loyal  to  the  Manchu 
dynasty.  They  further  hold  that  Yuan  only 
accepted  the  Republic  when  he  found  it  impossible 
to  retain  the  monarchy ;  and  that  Tang  Shao-yi, 
by  his  action  at  the  Shanghai  Conference,  betrayed 
not  only  the  Manchus,  but  his  friend  and  patron  as 
well.  Taking  all  facts  into  consideration,  the  most 
plausible  conclusion  to  arrive  at  is  that  Yuan  was 
not  loyal  to  the  monarchy,  else  he  would  not  have 
appointed  Tang  Shao-yi  Chief  Imperial  Delegate 
to  the  Shanghai  Conference,  for,  even  previous  to 
his  departure  from  Peking  for  Shanghai,  Tang 
Shao-yi  had  made  no  secret  of  his  sympathy  with 
the  Republican  cause. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         51 

If,  however,  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was  all  along  acting 
secretly  in  the  Republican  (and  incidentally  in  his 
own)  interests,  his  reason  for  appointing  Tang 
Shao-yi  becomes  quite  clear,  for  Tang  Shao-yi 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  his,  a  Cantonese,  and 
'persona  grata  with  the  revolutionary  leaders, 
themselves  mostly  natives  of  Canton.  He  was 
therefore  a  most  suitable  intermediary  to  negotiate 
with  the  Republicans  not  on  behalf  of  the  Manchus, 
but  on  behalf  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai  himself,  and  so  to 
arrange  matters  with  the  Revolutionary  leaders  as 
to  ensure  that  when  the  Chinese  Republic  was  an 
accomplished  fact.  Yuan  Shih-Kai  should  be  its 
first  President. 

It  is,  therefore,  a  fair  assumption  that,  so  far 
from  Tang  Shao-yi  betraying  Yuan  by  his  action 
at  Shanghai,  that  action  was  a  prearranged  affair 
between  the  two  men,  and  further.  Tang  Shao-yi 
only  accepted  the  idea  of  the  National  Convention 
because  he  quickly  realised  how  the  Convention 
could  be  used  to  serve  Yuan's  purpose.  It  was  a 
foregone  conclusion  that  the  Convention  would 
contain  a  Republican  majority  (had  they  thought 
otherwise  the  Republican  leaders  would  never  have 
suggested  the  idea) ;  it  would  also  contain  a  large 
number  of  representatives  from  Northern  China, 
and  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  in  the 
North  that  Yuan's  influence  was  greatest. 

The  Convention,  had  it  met  and  declared  for  a 


52         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

Republic,  would  have  had  the  important  duty  of 
electing  the  first  President  of  that  Republic,  and  as 
it  was  practically  certain  that  the  Northern  and 
Central  China  delegates  at  least  would  have  voted 
en  bloc  for  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  his  election  would  have 
been  a  certainty.  But  circumstances  soon  arose 
that  led  to  the  complete  abandonment  of  the 
Convention  scheme  and  caused  instead  the  imme- 
diate abdication  of  the  Ta  Tsing  dynasty. 

In  the  first  place,  as  already  pointed  out,  the 
extreme  Republicans  were  encouraged  by  Tang 
Shao-yi's  attitude  at  Shanghai  to  demand  that  the 
Emperor  should  abdicate  at  once.  This  demand 
was  placed  by  Yuan  before  the  Empress  Dowager 
Lung  Yu,i  who  had  by  this  time  taken  the  Regent's 
place  and  who,  after  some  hesitation,  consented 
to  it.  Hitherto  the  demand  for  the  Emperor's 
abdication  had  only  come  from  the  Revolutionary 
side. 

But  events  soon  took  place  which  made  the 
immediate  removal  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  as 
necessary  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai  himself  as  to  the 
Republicans.     The  circumstances  were  as  follows  : 

On  the  fall  of  Nanking,  Tieh  Liang,  the  Tartar 
General  and  Yuan's  old  enemy,  fled  to  Peking, 
and  almost  directly  after  his  arrival  began  to 
intrigue  against  Yuan  Shih-Kai.  The  result  of  his 
intrigues  were  soon  made  manifest  in  the  stiffening 
^  Widow  of  the  Emperor  Kwanglisu. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         53 

attitude  of  the  Imperial  clan  towards  the  Revolu- 
tionists, and  the  withdrawal  by  the  Empress 
Dowager  of  her  promise  previously  given  to  abdicate 
without  the  formality  of  a  National  Convention. 

Further  than  this,  the  younger  Imperial  Princes 
openly  characterised  Yuan  as  a  traitor  and  de- 
manded the  immediate  resumption  of  hostilities 
against  the  Republicans. 

The  extreme  Revolutionary  party  were  also 
restless  and  dissatisfied,  and  their  dissatisfaction 
culminated  in  an  attempt  on  January  16,  1912  to 
assassinate  Yuan;  no  wonder  that  the  latter  soon 
realised  that  both  the  success  of  his  plans  and  his 
own  safety  demanded  the  immediate  abdication 
of  the  Manchu  Emperor  and  the  simultaneous 
proclamation  of  a  Republic.  Though  the  Manchus 
could  not  hope  to  fight  Yuan  openly,  they  could 
easily  have  reached  him  by  means  of  an  assassin. 

For  a  short  time  the  fate  of  the  Manchu  dynasty 
seemed  to  hang  in  the  balance,  but  Yuan  Shih-Kai 
held  the  winning  cards. 

In  the  first  place,  a  memorial  signed  by  forty-six 
of  the  Imperialist  Generals  had  reached  the  Court 
at  Peking  requesting  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  establishment  of  a  Republic,  and  secondly, 
the  Chinese  troops  were  greatly  in  majority  in 
Peking,  and  these  were  to  a  man  devoted  to  Yuan. 
Yuan  was  therefore  in  a  position  to  enforce  upon 
the  Empress  Dowager  the  advice  he  had  given  her, 


54         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

namely,  to  issue  an  edict  in  the  Emperor's  name,  by 
which  he  and  his  dynasty  should  abdicate  the 
Dragon  Throne. 

But  there  was  no  need  to  use  force,  the  Manchus 
bowed  to  the  inevitable,  and  on  February  12,  1912, 
the  Empress  Dowager  issued  an  edict  in  the  name 
of  the  Emperor  Hsuan  Tung,  by  which  he  and  his 
family  surrendered  for  ever  the  Dragon  Throne 
and  the  vast  empire  won  by  their  ancestors. 

The  Emperor  himself  announced  in  this  abdica- 
tion edict  that  the  Republic  would  be  the  future 
form  of  government  for  China,  and  authorised 
Yuan  Shih-Kai  to  organise  it. 

In  order  to  gain  a  better  understanding  of  the 
methods  Yuan  Shih-Kai  employed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  this  government,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
touch  briefly  upon  the  period  previous  to  the 
abdication. 

When  Nanking  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Republicans,  their  leaders  decided  that  it  should 
become  the  capital  of  that  part  of  the  country 
which  had  accepted  their  rule. 

Towards  the  end  of  December  of  that  year  an 
assembly  composed  of  elected  delegates  from  all 
those  provinces  which  had  accepted  the  Republic 
met  in  Nanking,  their  duty  on  this  occasion  being  to 
elect  a  Provisional  President. 

The  only  man  eligible  for  such  a  post,  in  view  of 
his  having  suffered  exile  and  risked  death  in  the 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA  55 

cause  of  the  Republic,  was  Sun  Yat-sen;  and  on 
December  29  the  Revolutionary  Assembly  unani- 
mously elected  him  Provisional  President  of  the 
Chinese  Republic. 

It  must  have  been  a  proud  moment  in  the  life  of 
this  great  patriot  when,  on  New  Year's  Day  of  1912, 
he  made  his  state  entry  into  Nanking.  The  city 
around  him  teemed  with  the  memories  of  a  glorious 
past.  It  was  in  Nanking  that  the  Buddhist  priest 
Chu  Yuan-chang  had  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  the  degenerate  descendants  of  Kublai  Khan 
and  had  founded  the  glorious  dynasty  of  the 
Mings;  here  also,  but  forty-six  years  previous  to 
Sun  Yat-sen's  entry.  Hung  Hsiu-tsuan  had  founded 
the  dynasty  of  the  Great  Peace  (Taiping),  and  now 
Sun  Yat-sen  could  justly  feel  himself  one  with  these 
heroes  of  bygone  days  and  hope  to  earn  as  full  a 
share  of  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen. 

Immediately  on  assuming  office,  Sun  Yat-sen 
proceeded  with  the  formation  of  his  Cabinet,  and 
on  Yuan  Shih-Kai  the  duty  devolved  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  founding  a  durable  Republican  adminis- 
tration. The  political  situation  immediately  sub- 
sequent to  the  abdication  was  briefly  this  : 

All  southern  provinces  enthusiastically  greeted 
Sun  Yat-sen  as -their  President;  but  in  the  North 
there  were  many  difficulties,  for  though  the  north- 
ern provinces  had  been  willing  immediately  after 
the   abdication  to   accept   the   Revolution,    they 


56         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

absolutely  refused  to  recognise  Sun  Yat-sen  as 
their  leader. 

This  objection  was  in  part  due  to  their  jealousy 
of  the  South,  and  even  more  to  the  fact  that  their 
rooted  conservatism  would  never  permit  them  to 
accept  a  Cantonese  Radical  as  President. 

They  thus  played  into  the  hands  of  Yuan  Shih- 
Kai,  recognising  him  as  the  only  other  man  capable 
of  leadership. 

Sun  Yat-sen  was  now  at  the  parting  of  the  ways, 
and  the  gravest  issues  depended  upon  his  decision. 

Being  above  all  things  a  patriot  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  word,  he  recognised  that  insistence  on 
his  part  to  retain  office  would  provoke  a  civil  war 
likely  to  prove  disastrous  to  his  party  owing  to 
the  superiority  of  the  northern  troops  over  those 
ready  to  espouse  his  cause. 

Without  hesitation  he  adopted  the  only  possible 
course  and  one  which  did  him  the  highest  credit,  and 
on  February  14  not  only  placed  his  resignation  in 
the  hands  of  the  Nanking  Assembly,  but  himself 
suggested  Yuan  Shih-Kai  as  his  successor. 

The  members  of  the  Assembly  regretfully  decided 
to  act  upon  this  advice,  and,  meeting  in  special 
session  on  the  following  day,  unanimously  elected 
Yuan  Shih-Kai  to  the  Provisional  Presidency.  To 
all  who  have  followed  the  various  phases  of  Yuan 
Shih-Kai's  career,  the  part  which  he  played  in  the 
fall  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  may  appear  equivocal. 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA  57 

and  yet,  may  there  not  have  been  some  deep- 
rooted  cause  for  his  actions  which  would  throw  a 
redeeming  Hght  upon  them  ? 

Yuan  was  bent  upon  Reform  in  the  widest  sense 
of  the  word,  and  felt  that  all  real  progress  in  China 
would  be  impossible  so  long  as  the  throne  was 
occupied  by  the  decadent  and  corrupt  descendants 
of  Nurhachu.  Moreover,  could  he  have  prevented 
the  fall  of  the  dynasty,  it  would  have  been  at  the 
cost  of  a  civil  war  beside  which  the  Taiping  Revolt 
would  have  paled  into  insignificance. 

With  the  retirement  of  Sun  Yat-sen,  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  had  attained  his  immediate  goal — the 
Provisional  Presidency;  it  now  remained  for  him 
to  consolidate  his  position  and  to  raise  a  new  edifice 
of  state  in  place  of  that  which  the  Revolution  had 
destroyed. 


CHAPTER    V 

Concessions  made  to  the  Manchu  dynasty  on  its  abdication — 
Yuan  Shih-Kai  Provisional  President — Chaotic  conditions  in 
the  provinces — Lack  of  funds — Yuan's  limited  authority — 
Dispute  between  Yuan  and  the  Tung  Meng  Hui  respecting 
seat  of  government — Compromise  agreed  upon — Mutiny  and 
departure  of  northern  troops  from  Peking — Inauguration 
of  the  President — Yuan  Shih-Kai's  courage  in  peril — Tang 
Shao-yi  appointed  Prime  Minister — Attempt  by  him  to 
negotiate  loan  with  the  Four  Power  Syndicate — Fall  of  Tang 
Shao-yi  and  its  consequences — Lu  Cheng-hsiang  Premier — 
His  resignation — Appointment  in  his  place  of  Chao  Ping 
Chun — Effect  of  his  government — Divergence  of  opinions 
between  him  and  the  Revolutionary  party — Yuan's  attitude — 
Strong  military  position  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui — Its  waning 
influence  in  the  Council  of  the  Government — Plots  to  over- 
throw Yuan  Shih-Kai — Plotters  cowed  by  President's  drastic 
action — Visit  to  Peking  of  Sun  Yat-sen — Generalissimo  of 
the  southern  forces  resigns — Disbands  his  army  and  subse- 
quently visits  Peking — Yuan's  position  strengthened — Gene- 
ral Election  —  Amalgamation  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui  and 
other  political  parties  under  the  name  of  the  Kuomingtang — 
Kuomingtang  scores  majority  at  the  polls — Meeting  of 
Parliament — Kuomingtang's  distrust  of  Yuan — Kuomingtang 
selects  Sung  Chiao-jen  as  candidate  for  Premiership — 
Assassination  of  Sung  Chiao-jen — Yuan  charged  with 
knowledge  of  the  crime — Complete  breach  between  him  and 
the  Kuomingtang — A  conflict  of  principles. 

The  terms  granted  to  the  fallen  dynasty  by  the 
Revolutionists  were  extremely  generous. 

The  Emperor  Hsuan  Tung,  in  spite  of  his  abdica- 
tion of  the  throne  of  China,  was  to  be  allowed 
to  call  himself  Manchu  Emperor  and  to  enjoy 
the  rank  and  privileges  of  a  foreign  sovereign 
resident  on  Chinese  soil.  He  was  further  given  the 
Summer  Palace  as  a  permanent  residence,  and  was 

58 


REtMAKING     OF     CHINA  59 

to  be  permitted  to  surround  himself  there  with  all 
the  pomp  and  splendour  of  his  more  prosperous 
days.  The  allowances  formerly  made  by  the 
Emperor  to  the  Manehu  bannermen  were  now  to 
be  continued  by  the  Republic ;  the  Manehu  popula- 
tion were  to  be  put  on  a  footing  of  equality  as 
regards  rights  with  the  Chinese,  and,  in  conclusion, 
the  Republic  undertook  the  task  of  completing  the 
mausoleums  of  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu  and  the 
Empress  Dowager. 

Such  were  the  conditions  as  regards  the  fallen 
dynasty  when  the  supreme  power  of  the  State  was 
vested  in  the  person  of  President  Yuan  Shih-Kai. 
Had  Yuan  Shih-Kai  not  been  gifted  with  wonderful 
self-confidence  and  indomitable  courage,  he  might 
well  have  been  appalled  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
task  before  him.  China  was  in  a  state  of  chaos. 
The  Viceroys  and  Governors  of  the  old  regime  had 
disappeared  from  the  eighteen  provinces,  and  had 
been  replaced  by  the  Tutuhs  (Military  Governors) 
of  the  Republic,  men  either  self-appointed  or  nomi- 
nated to  their  posts  by  the  Revolutionary  soldiers. 
These  so-called  Military  Governors  were  for  the 
most  part  absolutely  ignorant  of  their  duties,  or 
incapable  of  carrying  them  out  in  an  honest  manner. 
Some  of  these  Tutuhs  who  wished  to  act  fairly,  as 
they  thought,  towards  the  province  over  which 
they  were  governing,  appropriated  the  revenues  for 
that  particular  province  only,  whereas  those  whose 


60         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

integrity  was  more  questionable  allowed  the 
revenues  to  find  their  way  into  their  own  pockets. 
There  was  scarcely  one  province  which  remitted 
any  part  of  its  taxes  to  the  Treasury  in  Peking,  and 
the  Central  Government  was  consequently  deprived 
of  a  considerable  portion  of  its  usual  revenue. 
Yuan  Shih-Kai's  Presidency  was  practically  limited 
to  the  provinces  of  Chihli  and  Shantung,  and  he 
exercised  no  authority  outside  these  limits. 

To  render  his  position  still  more  equivocal,  he 
very  soon  after  assuming  office  as  President  found 
himself  involved  in  what  threatened  to  become  a 
serious  dispute  with  the  leaders  of  the  Tung  Meng 
Hui.  The  Revolutionary  party,  in  which  the 
influence  of  the  South  predominated,  desired  that 
Nanking  should  henceforth  be  known  as  the  capital 
of  the  Republic,  and  that  the  President's  residence 
should  be  transferred  to  that  city.  Yuan  Shih-Kai 
strongly  opposed  this  suggestion  on  the  grounds 
of  the  great  and  unnecessary  expense  involved  in 
the  change ;  his  real  objections,  however,  were  due 
to  his  conviction  that  his  residence  in  the  South 
would  put  him  in  the  power  of  the  Revolutionary 
party  and  prevent  him  from  carrying  out  his  own 
system  of  government.  Eventually  a  compromise 
was  arrived  at  by  which  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was  to  be 
inaugurated  Provisional  President  in  Nanking,  but 
was  to  return  immediately  afterwards  to  Peking, 
which  was  to  remain  the  capital  any  way  for  the 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA  61 

time  being.  This  agreement  produced  great  satis- 
faction in  the  South,  and  shortly  afterwards  a 
deputation  was  sent  to  Peking  by  the  Nanking 
Assembly,  which  was  to  act  as  escort  to  Yuan  on 
his  journey  to  the  latter  city.  This  journey  was, 
however,  prevented  on  the  eve  of  Yuan's  departure 
by  a  mutiny  of  the  soldiers  of  the  third  division  of 
the  northern  army,  hitherto  considered  his  most 
reliable  troops.  After  looting  Peking  they  departed 
laden  with  plunder  for  their  native  province, 
Honan.  This  rising  necessitated  Yuan's  presence 
in  Peking. 

At  his  solemn  inauguration  on  March  10,  1912, 
in  the  hall  of  the  Waiwupu  in  Peking,  Yuan  Shih- 
Kai's  life  was  in  gravest  peril.  By  the  departure 
of  the  Third  Division  from  Peking,  the  military 
defence  of  that  city  was  virtually  in  the  hands  of 
the  Manchu  soldiers  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  whose 
sympathies  were  naturally  not  on  the  side  of  the 
Republic  or  its  President.  A  slight  hint  to  these 
men  from  the  Imperial  Clan  would  have  sufficed 
to  bring  about  a  terrible  tragedy  in  Peking.  The 
incentive,  however,  was  not  given,  and  Yuan's 
escape  from  a  situation  of  gravest  danger  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  wonderful  moral  courage 
he  displayed,  and  his  refusal  to  look  upon  the 
Manchu  element  as  inimical  to  him.  Most  men  in 
his  perilous  position  would  have  hurried  Chinese 
troops  to  Peking  and  attempted  to  disarm  the 


62  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

Manchu  soldiers.  Yuan,  however,  not  only  allowed 
the  Imperial  Guards  to  retain  their  important 
position,  but  on  many  occasions  made  them  act  as 
his  escort,  thus  proving  his  trust  in  them  and 
winning  for  himself  their  admiration  and  loyalty. 
Yuan's  first  move  after  his  inauguration  was  to 
issue  a  Presidential  Mandate  appointing  Tang  Shao- 
yi  Prime  Minister. 

The  new  Premier  soon  succeeded  in  forming  a 
cabinet  in  which  the  Tung  Meng  Hui  predominated, 
but  which  also  included  as  members  Chinese 
officials  who  had  held  office  under  the  Empire. 
The  most  important  amongst  these  was  Tuan 
Chih-jui,  Minister  of  War  and  a  close  friend  of 
Yuan's.  General  opinion  held  that  the  Government 
had  come  to  stay,  but  Tang  Shao-yi  himself  caused 
it  to  fall  in  a  very  short  time.  His  first  very  neces- 
sary duty  on  taking  up  office  was  the  conclusion 
of  a  foreign  loan,  funds  being  urgently  needed  by 
the  new  Republic.  To  secure  this  object  the 
Premier  opened  negotiations  with  the  "  Four 
Power  "  Syndicate  which  was  represented  by 
bankers  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany  and  the 
United  States.  The  Syndicate  dictated  its  own 
conditions,  which,  not  being  acceptable  to  the 
Premier,  caused  him  to  take  a  very  unwise  and  not 
very  creditable  step.  He  approached  a  Belgian 
Syndicate  before  breaking  off  negotiations  with  the 
Four  Power  group.     When  this  became  generally 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA  63 

known,  a  great  outcry  was  raised  against  the 
Premier,  which  resulted  in  his  resignation  and  in 
that  of  his  Tung  Meng  Hui  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet. 
With  the  resignation  of  the  Cabinet  all  attempts  to 
float  a  loan  failed  for  the  time  being. 

With  the  fall  of  Tang  Shao-yi  the  strength  of 
the  Tung  Meng  Hui  began  to  wane,  and  the  history 
of  the  Chinese  Republic  entered  upon  another 
phase.  Tang  Shao-yi's  immediate  successor  in 
the  Premiership,  Lu  Cheng-hsiang,  Chinese  Minister 
to  Russia,  had  but  a  brief  tenure  of  office  and  was 
soon  followed  by  Chao  Ping  Chun,  a  Honanese 
who  was  a  devoted  adherent  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai, 
having  served  under  him  in  Chihli. 

From  the  moment  of  the  appointment  of  the  new 
Premier,  who  was  influenced  entirely  by  the 
President,  it  became  obvious  that  Yuan's  ideas  of 
the  constitution  of  a  government  differed  widely 
from  those  put  forward  by  Sun  Yat-sen  and  his 
party. 

The  Tung  Meng  Hui  desired  a  United  States  of 
China  in  which  each  of  the  eighteen  provinces 
would  be  self-governing;  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  on  the 
contrary,  insisted  upon  a  constitution  vesting  the 
entire  power  in  his  own  person,  and  giving  him 
the  right  to  appoint  and  dismiss  the  Provincial 
Governors  at  his  pleasure. 

From  the  moment  that  Yuan  realised  how  com- 
pletely the  political  ideals  of  the  Revolutionary 


64         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

party  were  at  variance  with  his  own  he  determined 
to  exterminate  it. 

But  the  crushing  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui  was  not 
so  easy  of  accompHshment,  for  it  could  still  count 
upon  the  support  of  the  southern  army,  and  par- 
ticularly upon  the  garrison  of  Nanking,  15,000 
strong  and  commanded  by  Huang  Hsing,  Sun 
Yat-sen's  lieutenant.  Yuan  Shih-Kai  exercised 
the  utmost  circumspection  in  the  methods  he 
employed,  and  slowly  but  surely  forced  the  various 
members  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui  holding  official 
positions  in  Peking,  to  send  in  their  resignations, 
filling  up  their  places  almost  immediately  with 
men  of  his  own  way  of  thinking. 

The  relations  between  the  President  and  Sun 
Yat-sen  still  remained  cordial  on  the  surface, 
but  in  point  of  fact  each  was  awaiting  his  own 
opportunity. 

Amongst  the  more  irresponsible  members  of  the 
Tung  Meng  Hui,  the  belief  was  gaining  ground  that 
the  President's  strength  and  grip  upon  the  country 
were  on  the  wane,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1912  they 
commenced  plotting  to  overthrow  him.  Subse- 
quent events  showed  them,  however,  to  be  entirely 
misguided. 

In  the  early  part  of  December,  General  Chang 
Chen-wu  and  General  Fang-wei  arrived  at  Peking 
from  Wuchang,  ostensibly  on  a  mission  from  the 
Provisional  Vice-President  of  the  Republic,  General 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         65 

Li  Yuan-hung,  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai.  This  mission 
was  a  mere  pretext,  for  both  Yuan  Shih-Kai  and 
Li  Yuan-hung  knew  these  two  men  to  be  con- 
spirators against  the  Government,  and  arranged 
between  themselves  that,  late  one  night,  when 
returning  from  a  dinner  given  in  their  honour  by 
the  President,  they  should  be  seized  and  executed, 
which  plan  was  carried  out  to  the  letter. 

This  drastic  measure,  so  strongly  reminiscent 
of  the  methods  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  was 
naturally  condemned  by  many  of  the  members  of 
the  National  Council  now  in  session  in  Peking; 
but,  brutal  though  it  undoubtedly  was,  it  effectively 
cowed  the  would-be  Revolutionists,  and  convinced 
them  that  Yuan  Shih-Kai's  reserve  of  strength  was 
not  in  any  way  exhausted. 

At  the  end  of  December,  Sun  Yat-sen  paid  a 
visit  to  Peking  and  was  received  with  the  highest 
honours  by  the  President.  His  visit  was  followed 
shortly  afterwards  by  that  of  Huang  Hsing,  who 
had  resigned  his  post  of  Generalissimo  of  the 
southern  forces  at  Nanking  and  had  disbanded  the 
greater  part  of  his  army.  By  the  disbanding  of 
these  troops,  the  only  revolutionary  army  of  any 
strength  left  in  the  country  was  that  quartered  at 
Wuchang  and  commanded  by  Li  Yuan-hung,  who 
had  now  openly  thrown  in  his  lot  with  Yuan  Shih- 
Kai.  The  President  could,  therefore,  count  upon 
his  support  and  that  of  his  army  whenever  he 


/ 


66         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

considered  the  moment  had  come  for  the  final 
crushing  of  the  Tung  Meng  Hui.  The  General 
Election  of  the  new  Chinese  Parliament  took 
place  in  March  1913,  and  resulted  in  a  large  majority 
for  the  Kuomingtang,  a  new  party  which  owed  its 
existence  to  the  amalgamation  of  the  Tung  Meng 
Hui  with  several  other  political  parties.  The  new 
Parliament  held  its  opening  meeting  in  April  under 
anything  but  favourable  conditions. 

The  fact  that  the  President  did  not  open  it  in 
person,  and  that  his  message  was  read  by  his 
secretary,  admitted  of  one  construction  only:  it 
clearly  showed  that  a  complete  breach  between 
him  and  the  Kuomingtang  was  imminent. 

The  leaders  of  the  Revolutionary  party  were  now 
no  longer  in  any  sort  of  doubt  with  regard  to  the 
real  trend  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai's  policy,  and  conse- 
quently looked  upon  him  with  profound  distrust, 
a  feeling  which  soon  developed  into  bitter  hatred. 

The  programme  of  the  Kuomingtang  included  a 
system  of  party  government  as  we  understand  it  in 
England,  and  its  members  considered  that  their 
victories  at  the  time  of  the  elections  entitled  them 
to  expect  that  they  should  be  selected  by  the 
President  to  form  a  Cabinet. 

They  selected  as  their  candidate  for  the  Premier- 
ship Sung  Chiao-jen,  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in 
the  Revolution,  a  former  Minister  of  Education 
in  the  Cabinet  of  Tang  Shao-yi.     Sung  Chiao-jen 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         67 

accordingly  left  his  residence  at  Shanghai  for  Peking 
amidst  the  good  wishes  of  his  friends,  and  with 
every  prospect  of  a  brilliant  career.  Whilst 
waiting  at  Shanghai  railway  station  for  the  train 
which  was  to  convey  him  to  the  capital  he  was 
shot  and  mortally  wounded  by  the  bullet  of 
an  assassin,  and  succumbed  to  his  injuries  a  few 
hours  later.  The  bullet  which  put  an  end  to  this 
promising  life  also  struck  the  final  blow  to  any 
remnant  of  co-operation  between  Yuan  Shih-Kai 
and  the  Kuomingtang. 

The  members  of  the  Revolutionary  party  believed 
that  they  saw  the  hand  of  the  President  in  the 
murder  of  the  man  he  knew  to  be  one  of  his  ablest 
opponents,  and  they  resolved  to  drive  Yuan  from 
office,  or  at  any  rate  to  force  a  constitution  through 
Parliament  which  would  render  him  a  mere  cipher. 

Henceforth  it  was  to  be  war  d  Voutrance  between 
the  ideals  of  democratic  Republicanism  as  repre- 
sented bythe  Kuomingtang,  and  the  thinly  veiled 
autocracy  which  was  the  political  goal  of  Yuan 
Shih-Kai. 


CHAPTER    VI 

Yuan  Sliih-Kai  and  the  assassination  of  Sung  Chiao-jen — 
Fictitious  strength  of  the  Kuomingtang — Rejection  of  the 
Russo -Chinese  agreement — Financial  crisis — The  Crisp  Loan 
— Negotiations  opened  with  the  Quintuple  group — Agreement 
Bigned — Its  rejection  in  Parliament — Ratification  of  the  loan 
by  the  President — Country  on  the  brink  of  civil  war — Out- 
break of  the  war  "  for  the  punishment  of  Yuan  " — Fall  of 
the  Kuomingtang — Presidential  election — Victory  of  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  and  Li  Yuan-hung — Inauguration  of  the  President 
— Recognition  of  the  Republic  by  Foreign  Powers — Dissolu- 
tion of  the  Kuomingtang — Arrival  of  Li  Yuan-hung  in  Peking 
— Meeting  of  Administrative  Council — Dissolution  of  Parlia- 
ment— Yuan  Dictator — Republic  or  Empire  ? 

To  what  extent  the  charges  brought  against  the 
President  by  the  Kuomingtang  were  justified  in 
fact  will  never  be  known ;  and  there  is  no  possible 
doubt  that  Sung  Chiao-jen's  death  was  of  advantage 
to  Yuan  Shih-Kai  also.  Considerable  suspicion 
attached  to  the  latter  in  the  matter ;  at  the  same 
time  the  way  in  which  Sung  Chiao-jen  met  his 
death  does  not  suggest  that  it  was  of  Yuan's 
doing.  He  would  more  probably  have  allowed 
Sung  Chiao-jen  to  reach  Peking,  and  then  to  have 
had  him  arrested  on  a  charge  of  sedition,  execution 
following. 

At  the  moment  of  Sung  Chiao-jen's  death  the 
Kuomingtang  possessed  a  large  majority  in  Parlia- 
ment and,  relying  upon  that  and  upon  the  support 
of    the    southern    troops,    its    leaders   had   great 

68 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA  69 

hopes  of  achieving  the  overthrow  of  Yuan.  They 
opened  their  parHamentary  campaign  by  loudly 
demanding  the  dismissal  from  office  of  the  Premier, 
Chao  Ping  Chun,  whom  they  accused  unhesitatingly 
of  being  the  direct  instigator  of  the  assassination 
of  Sung  Chiao-jen.  To  this  demand  Yuan  turned  a 
deaf  ear. 

Having  failed  in  this  attempt  to  weaken  Yuan 
Shih-Kai's  position,  the  Revolutionary  leaders' 
next  move  was  to  secure  the  rejection  by  Parliament 
of  the  Russo-Chinese  agreement  respecting  Outer 
Mongolia,  which  province  had,  shortly  after  the 
fall  of  the  Monarchy,  proclaimed  its  independence 
and  practically  placed  itself  under  the  protection 
of  Russia. 

By  this  strategy  the  leaders  of  the  Kuomingtang 
hoped  to  force  the  President  into  a  quarrel  with 
Russia,  but,  far  from  achieving  their  object,  they 
actually  improved  the  relations  between  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  and  the  Russian  Government.  At  the 
time  of  the  rejection  of  the  Russo-Chinese  agree- 
ment the  Republican  Government  was  in  great 
financial  difficulties. 

After  the  fall  of  Tang  Shao-yi,  various  attempts 
were  made  to  negotiate  a  loan  with  the  Five  Power 
group,  but  all  ended  in  failure.  The  Powers 
represented  in  this  group  would  only  agree  to  the 
loan  on  certain  conditions  at  that  moment  wholly 
inacceptable  to  China,  and  at  the  same  time  they 


70         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

strongly  opposed  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
RepubHc  to  conclude  a  loan  with  another  Syndicate. 
In  spite  of  all  opposition  the  Chinese  Government  in 
the  early  spring  of  the  year  1912  succeeded  in  raising 
a  loan  of  two  million  sterling  with  the  English  firm 
of  Birch,  Crisp  &  Co.,  secured  on  the  salt  gabelle. 

This  loan,  however,  only  brought  temporary 
relief,  and  the  early  stages  of  the  struggle  between 
the  Kuomingtang  and  Yuan  Shih-Kai  saw  China 
on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Realising  that  funds 
were  urgently  needed  for  the  continuance  of  his 
fight  to  retain  his  supremacy,  Yuan  Shih-Kai  again 
applied  to  the  Five  Power  group  for  a  loan;  but 
the  negotiations  were  impeded  by  Russia's  insis- 
tence on  an  agreement  with  respect  to  Mongolia 
before  the  signature  of  the  proposed  loan. 

It  was  then  that  the  fatal  mistake  of  the  Kuo- 
mingtang in  rejecting  the  agreement,  which  had 
only  been  arrived  at  after  such  protracted  negotia- 
tions between  China  and  Russia,  convinced  the 
Government  of  the  latter  country  that  it  was 
essential  to  support  the  authority  of  Yuan  Shih- 
Kai.  Russia  immediately  withdrew  her  opposition 
to  the  granting  of  the  proposed  loan,  and  on  April 
26,  1913,  the  agreement  was  signed,  the  signatories 
being  the  Chinese  Minister  of  Finance  and  the 
representatives  of  the  Five  Power  group.^     The 

1  Russia  and  Japan  had  joined  the  group,  and  the  United 
States  withdrawn 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         71 

loan  represented  the  sum  of  twenty  million  sterling, 
the  security  again  being  the  salt  gabelle. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai's  diplomatic  triumph  in  carrying 
these  complicated  negotiations  to  a  successful 
conclusion  placed  the  Kuomingtang  in  a  most 
difficult  position.  It  sought  by  means  of  its 
large  majority  in  Parliament  to  carry  the  rejection 
of  the  loan  on  the  grounds  that  its  conditions  were 
derogatory  to  China,  but  this  attempt  was  of  no 
avail.  Yuan  Shih-Kai  ratifying  the  agreement  in 
defiance  of  the  legislatory  vote. 

The  pent-up  fury  of  the  leaders  of  the  Kuoming- 
tang could  now  no  longer  be  kept  within  bounds, 
and  every  one  realised  fully  that  China  was  on  the 
brink  of  a  civil  war. 

On  May  4,  Yuan  Shih-Kai  issued  a  Presidential 
Mandate  proclaiming  his  intention  of  maintaining 
order  under  all  conditions. 

About  the  middle  of  July  fighting  broke  out  in 
the  province  of  Kiangsi  between  the  northern  and 
southern  troops,  and  a  few  days  later  Huang 
Hsing  proclaimed  the  independence  in  Nanking 
of  the  southern  provinces.  This  step  marks  the 
commencement  of  the  *  *  war  for  the  punishment 
of  Yuan  "  entered  on  by  the  leaders  of  the  Kuoming- 
tang, which  was  destined  to  terminate  so  dis- 
astrously for  their  own  party.  Viewed  superficially, 
the  strength  of  the  two  armies  was  practically 
equal.     In   the    North,    Yuan    Shih-Kai    reigned 


72         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

supreme,  and  he  could  also  depend  upon  the  loyal 
support  of  the  provinces  of  Hupeh,  Chekiang 
Kwangsi,  Yunnan,  Kweichau  and  Szeschwan. 

The  rebels  counted  amongst  their  allies  the 
provinces  of  Kiangsu,  Kiangsi,  Anhui,  Fukien  and 
Kwangtung,  and  a  body  of  levies  actually  raised 
whilst  the  revolt  was  in  progress.  The  province 
of  Hunan  preserved  its  neutrality.  The  Provisional 
Vice-President,  Li  Yuan-hung,  who,  assisted  by  his 
army  of  50,000  men  securely  held  Wuchang,  was 
prepared,  if  necessary,  to  fight  in  the  interests  of 
the  President. 

In  addition  to  the  forces  supporting  both  sides, 
there  existed  at  Yenchau,  in  Shantung,  a  body  of 
soldiers  25,000  strong  commanded  by  General 
Chang  Hsun,  who  had  figured  in  a  somewhat 
dubious  light  in  the  siege  of  Nanking.  This 
soldier  of  fortune,  as  we  have  described  him  in  a 
previous  chapter,  was  once  more  prepared  to  offer 
his  services  to  the  highest  bidder.  Yuan  Shih-Kai, 
by  reason  of  the  loan  just  granted,  was  in  a  position 
to  secure  his  co-operation  on  terms  more  acceptable 
to  Chang  Hsun  than  any  the  Kuomingtang  could 
put  forward,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  managed, 
with  his  wonderful  knowledge  of  human  nature,  to 
appeal  to  Chang  Hsun's  pride  as  a  soldier,  and 
thereby  gain  his  personal  regard  and  loyalty.  He 
promoted  Chang  Hsun  to  the  full  rank  of  General, 
and  commanded  him  to  march  against  Nanking 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA         73 

and  make  an  attempt  to  recapture  that  city  for 
the  Government. 

He  thus  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  wipe  out 
the  memory  of  his  former  defeat,  which  had  never 
ceased  to  rankle  in  his  heart,  and  Chang  Hsun 
immediately  headed  his  troops  on  their  march 
swearing  eternal  loyalty  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai.  The 
rebels  started  hostilities  by  sending  a  large  force 
under  the  command  of  General  Chen  Chi-mei, 
one  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  Kuomingtang, 
to  occupy  Shanghai.  The  actual  occupation  of 
the  city  was  accomplished  without  fighting,  but 
when  the  invaders  attempted  the  capture  of  the 
Kiagnan  Arsenal  they  met  with  most  serious 
resistance. 

The  small  garrison  of  northern  troops  in  the 
arsenal  made  a  gallant  defence,  and  with  the 
assistance  of  a  naval  squadron  stationed  in  the 
Yangtze  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Tseng  Ju 
Cheng,  drove  the  rebels  back  in  confusion. 

A  few  days  later  northern  reinforcements 
reached  Shanghai  and  completed  the  routing  of 
the  rebels,  who  fled  in  all  directions,  some  being 
forced  into  the  foreign  concessions,  where  they 
were  immediately  disarmed  by  the  International 
Municipal  Council.  Admiral  Tseng,  to  whom  the 
main  credit  of  this  victory  was  due,  had  received 
his  training  in  the  British  Navy.  He  was  imme- 
diately promoted  Governor  of   Shanghai,  and   he 


74         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

gained  further  laurels  a  few  days  later  by  the 
surrender,  after  a  short  bombardment,  of  the 
Wusung  forts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yangtze.  This 
severe  reverse  to  the  rebel  forces  was  followed  by 
one  even  more  serious  in  its  results. 

On  August  4,  the  garrison  of  Canton,  hitherto 
loyal  to  the  Kuomingtang,  suddenly  mutinied,  and, 
having  killed  its  commander,  cancelled  the  declara- 
tion of  independence  made  by  Chan  Kwing-ming, 
Tutuh  of  Kwangtung,  who,  recognising  his  danger, 
at  once  fled  to  Hong-Kong. 

These  events  were  followed  a  few  days  later  by 
the  entry  into  Canton  of  the  commander  of  the 
Kwangsi  troops.  Lung  Tsi  Kwang,  who  occupied 
the  city  in  the  President's  name  and  assumed  the 
Tutuhship.  Thus  the  province  of  Kwangtung, 
formerly  the  stronghold  of  Sun  Yat-sen  and  his 
party,  passed  into  the  sway  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai. 

The  defection  of  Fukien  and  the  occupation  of 
Nanchang,  the  capital  of  Kiangsi,  by  the  northern 
forces,  added  two  further  victories  to  the  Presi- 
dential cause.  Nanking  held  out  longest,  but 
on  September  6  that  city  was  captured  by  General 
Chang  Hsun,  whose  troops  acted  up  to  their  reputa- 
tion for  ferocity,  and  stained  their  victory  with 
unjustifiable  bloodshed.  Amongst  the  atrocities 
committed  by  these  unruly  soldiers  there  figured 
prominently  the  shooting  of  several  harmless 
Japanese  residents,   an  act  which  threatened  to 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA         75 

bring  about  serious  complications  between  Japan 
and  China. 

The  fall  of  Nanking  dealt  the  final  blow  to  the 
Kuomingtang,  for,  with  its  leaders  in  exile  abroad 
and  its  army  dispersed  the  temporary  majority 
it  retained  in  Parliament  was  of  no  importance. 
Remembering  the  complete  victory  gained  by  the 
Kuomingtang  between  1911  and  1912,  it  is  difficult 
to  realise  that  within  less  than  two  years  it  had 
practically  ceased  to  exist.  In  a  very  great  measure 
the  leaders  of  the  Kuomingtang  were  responsible 
for  its  short  period  of  existence.  They  started  from 
the  point  of  view  that  a  state  religion  would  prove 
incompatible  with  a  Republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and,  on  coming  into  power,  their  foremost  aim 
was  to  bring  about  the  complete  separation  of  the 
Confucian  religion  from  the  State. 

This  policy,  which  sought  to  strike  a  blow  at  the 
most  ancient  and  revered  traditions  of  the  country, 
met  with  the  bitterest  antagonism  on  all  sides,  and 
finally  destroyed  any  chance  of  the  Kuomingtang 
obtaining  an  enduring  influence  with  the  people. 

Barely  had  the  rebellion  been  crushed  than  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  compelled  Parliament  to  hold  an  imme- 
diate Presidential  Election  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  draft  for  the  new  Constitution  had  not 
yet  been  completed.  This  election  took  place  on 
October  6,  and  Yuan  succeeded,  by  methods  of 
coercion,    in    securing    his    own    election    to    the 


76         RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA 

Presidency  and  that  of  Li  Yuan-hung  to  the 
Vice-Presidency. 

The  10th  of  October  1913,  the  second  anniversary 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  was  selected 
for  the  formal  inauguration  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai  as 
President  of  the  Chinese  Republic.  The  ceremony 
took  place  in  the  Taihotien  Hall  of  the  Forbidden 
City,  in  the  presence  of  the  Cabinet,  of  deputations 
from  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  also  of  the 
Foreign  Ministers,  who  had  all  formally  recognised 
the  Republic  on  the  day  of  Yuan's  election  as 
President.^  After  the  ceremony  Yuan  proceeded 
to  the  gateway  of  the  hall  and  reviewed  the  troops 
of  the  northern  army  from  the  same  spot  from 
which,  when  the  Manchu  dynasty  was  at  the 
zenith  of  its  power,  the  great  Emperor  Chien  Lung 
had  reviewed  his  troops  on  their  return  from  their 
victories  in  Turkestan. 

One  cannot  help  speculating  upon  the  nature  of 
Yuan  Shih-Kai's  thoughts  as  he  stood  upon  this 
historic  spot.  Did  they  go  back  to  those  not  far 
distant  days  when  he  had  entered  the  Taihotien 
Hall  as  Councillor  and  yet  a  mere  subject  of  the 
all-powerful  Empress  Dowager,  or  did  his  imagina- 
tion conjure  up  dreams  of  glories  to  come  and  of  a 
day  when  the  Imperial  Mantle  would  descend  upon 
him,  and  he  be  hailed  by  the  proud  name  of  Son 
of  Heaven  ? 

^  America  had  recognised  the  Republic  in  the  May  of  that 
year. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         77 

In  spite  of  the  hopelessness  of  their  pHght,  the 
Kuomingtang,  shortly  after  the  inauguration  of 
the  President,  made  one  more  desperate  effort  to 
wreck  his  influence  by  attempting  to  pass  a  consti- 
tution through  Parliament  which  would  so  diminish 
his  powers  as  to  make  him  a  mere  figurehead  in 
matters  of  state. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai's  position,  however,  was  now 
unassailable,  and  on  November  4  he  gave  the 
coup  de  grace  to  the  Kuomingtang  by  the  issue  of  a 
Presidential  mandate  unseating  the  three  hundred 
Members  of  Parliament  belonging  to  that  party, 
and  commanding  the  closing  of  its  various  branches 
in  the  provinces.  Immediately  after  this  drastic 
measure,  the  President  formed  an  Administrative 
Conference,  eight  members  of  which  he  nominated 
himself.  The  Cabinet  had  the  right  to  nominate 
two  members  and  each  minister  to  nominate  one, 
and  in  addition  to  these,  the  governors  of  each  of 
the  eighteen  provinces  were  to  provide  two  mem- 
bers, and  Mongolia  and  Tibet  were  called  upon  to 
send  four  representatives  each. 

The  Council  held  its  first  meeting  on  December  16, 
in  the  Presidential  Palace  at  Peking.  The  opening 
ceremony  over,  a  very  interesting  address  was 
delivered  by  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  who  was  accompanied 
by  Vice-President  Li  Yuan-hung.  A  few  days 
later  the  President  received  a  memorial  signed  by 
the  Tutuhs  of  the  eighteen  provinces  petitioning  for 
the  immediate  dissolution  of  Parliament. 


78  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

As  a  mere  matter  of  form  the  President  handed 
this  document  to  the  Administrative  Conference 
for  decision,  and  every  member  of  that  body,  all 
of  whom  were  enthusiastic  supporters  of  Yuan 
Shih-Kai,  after  a  perfunctory  discussion  decided  in 
favour  of  the  petition. 

Yuan  Shih-Kai  early  in  the  New  Year  issued  a 
mandate  dissolving  Parliament  on  the  grounds  that 
it  was  impossible  to  gain  a  quorum.  The  extinc- 
tion of  the  Kuomingtang  and  the  dissolution  of 
Parliament  have  placed  Yuan  Shih-Kai  in  the  posi- 
tion of  Dictator,  and  the  question  naturally  forces 
itself  upon  us,  has  he  now  reached  the  final  goal  of 
his  ambitions  ?  Will  he  be  content  to  continue  his 
rule  as  President,  or  will  he  boldly  throw  aside 
his  professions  of  Republicanism  and  attempt  to 
found  a  new  dynasty  ?  ^  We  know  him  to  have 
frequently  professed  his  strong  belief  in  a  Repub- 
lican form  of  government,  but  the  high  favour  he  is 
constantly  showing  to  Kang  Yu-wei  and  his  party, 
all  avowed  Monarchists,  may  well  cast  doubts  upon 
the  value  of  this  profession.  The  most  significant 
sign  of  his  aims  for  the  future  may  be  interpreted 
from  his  proposal  to  revive  the  religious  ceremonies 
in  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  and  himself  to  officiate 
at  them.     The  office  of  Pontifex  Maximus  would 

1  Since  the  above  was  written  Yuan  Shih-Kai  has  adopted 
a  form  of  government  which,  although  ostensibly  based  on  that 
of  the  United  States,  bears  very  striking  resemblance  to  the 
old  Imperial  System. 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         79 

of  necessity  raise  him  and  his  heirs  to  Imperial 
rank,  and  would  convey,  to  the  minds  of  the  great 
majority  of  Chinese,  the  conviction  that  Yuan 
Shih-Kai  had  received  the  Mandate  of  Heaven  to 
ascend  the  Dragon  Throne. 

This  conviction  would  be  all  the  more  acceptable 
in  view  of  the  strong  reaction  throughout  the 
country  in  favour  of  the  monarchical  principle. 

Everything  points  to  Yuan  Shih-Kai  as  the  man 
most  suited  to  further  the  best  interests  of  China. 
Unscrupulous  according  to  our  standards  in  some 
of  his  methods  of  gaining  power,  he  has  neverthe- 
less invariably  made  use  of  that  power  in  a  truly 
patriotic  spirit.  In  the  course  of  two  years  he 
has  safely  steered  his  country  through  civil  war 
and  foreign  complications,  and  has  restored  order 
where  chaos  reigned. 

China  can  boast  of  many  patriots,  but  Yuan 
Shih-Kai,  alone  of  all  these,  combines  with  patriot- 
ism the  gift  of  real  statesmanship  and  an  unusual 
and  far-reaching  intelligence,  in  short,  all  those 
qualities  which,  if  rightly  employed,  should  enable 
him  to  guide  China  through  her  difficult  period 
of  transition  into  her  rightful  place  among  the 
nations  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    VII 

Western  influence  on  the  Chinese  Revolution — Causes  of  the 
fall  of  the  Manchu  dynasty — Chinese  people's  attitude  to- 
wards the  Republican  ideal — Comparison  between  the  French 
and  Chinese  Revolutions — The  re-birth  of  a  nation — Return 
of  Kang  Yu-wei — His  political  ideal  contrasted  with  that 
of  Sun  Yat-sen  —  Triumph  of  the  Moderates  —  Kang  Yu- 
wei's  influence  on  the  New  China  and  its  probable  results — 
Forecast  of  future  system  of  education,  and  military  and  naval 
reform  in  China — The  Yellow  Peril — Radical  industrial 
changes  probable  in  China — Dangers  of  the  emigration 
question — Reasons  for  believing  China  will  continue  under 
one  government — China  as  a  great  Power — Influence  of 
Western  education  upon  the  religion  of  the  country. 

In  the  opening  chapters  of  this  book  we  traced 

the  progress  of  Western  ideas  in  China  from  the 

majority  of  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu  to  the  death  of 

the  Empress  Dowager.     In  this,   the  concluding 

chapter,  we  will  endeavour  to  discover  to  what 

extent  Western  influence  has  been  responsible  for 

the  Chinese  Revolution. 

The  fact  that  this  Revolution  has  led  to  the 

establishment  of  a  Republic  has  strengthened  the 

belief   in  the  minds  of   many  Europeans  that   its 

main  cause  was  the  introduction  into   China  of 

Western    modes    of    thought.     A    closer    study, 

however,    of    China's    past    history    will    entirely 

dispose  of  this  view.     The  decadence  and  weakness 

of    the    Manchu    dynasty    caused    its    downfall; 

80 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         81 

precisely  as  in  the  case  of  its  Ming  predecessors  the 
Chinese  people  refused  to  obey  a  weak  rule. 

These  indisputable  facts  dispose  of  the  theory  of 
Western  influence  being  at  work  as  regards  the 
Revolution. 

The  acceptance  by  China  of  the  Republican  form 
of  government  can  scarcely  be  traced  to  European 
precedent,  for  at  the  time  of  the  enforced  abdication 
of  the  Emperor  Hsuan  Tung  the  only  genuine 
Republicans  in  China  were  the  members  of  the  Tung 
Meng  Hui ;  and  had  Yuan  Shih-Kai  at  that  moment 
been  strong  enough  to  seize  the  vacant  throne, 
their  political  ideal  would  never  have  been  realised. 

In  the  words  of  a  great  European  authority  on 
China  ^  "  the  Republic  is  the  offspring  of  unexpected 
opportunity  out  of  sudden  chaos,  accidental  in  its 
birth,  and  foredoomed  to  early  demise." 

The    conservative  mercantile  classes  supported 

the  Republic  because  the  only  alternative  offered 

to  them  was  a  continuance  of  the  hated  Manchu 

rule;  and  as  regards  the  bulk  of  the  population  in 

China,  this  was  totally  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  a 

Republican  form  of  government,  so  much  so  that 

we  are  told  by  the  Taiyuanfu  correspondent  of  the 

North  China  Herald  that,  when  Yuan  Shih-Kai  was, 

last  October,  elected  President  of  the  Republic,  the 

population  of  Shensi  believed  he  had  ascended  the 

throne. 

1  Mr.  J.  0.  P.  Bland. 
G 


82         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

The  Chinese  Revolution,  Hke  the  French  one,  had 
its  Jacobins,  the  followers  of  Sun  Yat-sen ;  and  its 
Girondins,  the  adherents  of  Kang  Yu-wei;  the 
French  Republic  founded  on  the  democratic 
teachings  of  Rousseau  was  followed  by  the  auto- 
cracy of  Napoleon,  and  in  China  the  democratic 
Republic  of  Sun  Yat-sen  has  given  way  to  the 
despotism  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai. 

Following  up  this  simile  a  little  further,  it  is 
safe  to  contend  that  in  as  great  a  measure  as  the 
Empire  of  Napoleon  differed  from  the  Monarchy 
of  Louis  XVI,  so  the  Empire  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai, 
should  it  ever  come  into  being,  would  be  conducted 
on  entirely  different  principles  to  the  Empire  of 
the  Manchus. 

The  overthrow  of  that  dynasty  was  the  first 
stage  in  the  evolution  of  China,  and,  though  there 
are  likely  to  be  innumerable  obstacles  before  this 
evolution  becomes  complete,  the  hands  of  the 
clock  can  never  again  be  put  back  to  where  they 
stood  before  the  Revolution  of  1911. 

The  world  has  witnessed  the  awakening  of  a 
nation  of  four  hundred  millions  of  people,  an  event 
fraught  with  grave  issues  both  for  East  and  West. 
Its  ultimate  destiny  is  still  unknown  to  us,  and  all 
we  think  or  say  on  the  subject  is  pure  conjecture. 
Will  the  China  of  the  future  be  peaceful  or  com- 
bative, retrograde  or  progressive  ? 

Will  she  adopt  in  their  entirety  the  ideals  and 


RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA         83 

institutions  of  Western  civilisation,  or  will  she, 
emulating  the  example  of  Japan,  seek  to  graft  them 
on  to  her  own  ? 

In  attempting  a  forecast  of  the  China  of  the 
future,  the  downfall  of  Sun  Yat-sen  and  his  party 
and  the  return  to  power  of  Kang  Yu-wei  and  his 
following  are  of  the  greatest  significance.  Sun 
Yat-sen  derived  his  inspiration  from  Europe  and 
America,  whilst  Kang  Yu-wei  is  entirely  influenced 
by  the  political  ideals  of  Japan. 

Both  Kang  Yu-wei  and  his  able  lieutenant  Liang 
Chi-chao  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Japan, 
and  with  that  knowledge  the  conviction  has  forced 
itself  upon  their  minds  that  the  true  secret  of  that 
country's  greatness  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that, 
while  adopting  all  that  is  best  in  the  civilisation 
of  the  West,  she  has  retained  unimpaired  her 
national  ideals  and  her  time-honoured  traditions. 

The  leaders  of  the  Kuomingtang  desired  to 
uproot  the  old  China  entirely,  and  to  refashion  her 
on  completely  Western  principles.  The  reformers  of 
1898,  actuated  by  truer*  statesmanship,  wish  to 
follow  the  example  of  the  regenerators  of  Japan, 
and  to  build  up  in  China  the  new  edifice  of  state  on 
the  old  foundations.  Following  up  their  enlight- 
ened principles,  they  will  probably  adopt,  as  Japan 
has  done,  the  political  institutions  of  the  West, 
and  completely  reform  the  educational  system 
in   China,  retaining,  as  the  only  survival  of  her 


84         RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

time-honoured  traditions,  her  ancient  classical 
literature. 

The  Army  and  Navy  in  China  are  almost  certain 
to  be  remodelled  on  entirely  Western  systems, 
and  these  changes  bring  into  prominence  the 
question  so  often  debated  upon  by  Europeans,  the 
question  of  the  Yellow  Peril.  It  is  within  the  last 
fifteen  years  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  re- 
ferring to  China's  vast  population  and  her  evident 
desire  to  emulate  the  West,  prophesied  the  invasion 
of  Europe  by  the  Mongolian  races. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  Mongolian  races 
are  sufficiently  strong  in  number  to  carry  out  this 
prediction ;  on  the  other  hand  certain  fundamental 
traits  in  the  character  of  the  Chinese  render  it 
very  unlikely  that  they  would  associate  themselves 
with  such  a  scheme. 

The  Chinese  are  not  really  a  warlike  nation, 
though  they  have  often,  when,  as  in  the  first  siege 
of  Nanking,  well  led,  shown  remarkable  bravery. 

In  Japan  the  military  caste  is  revered  above  all 
others  by  the  entire  nation,  as  demonstrated  by 
the  immense  prestige  enjoyed  by  the  Samurai; 
in  China  the  statesman  and  the  scholar  have  always 
been  exalted  above  the  soldier,  and  there  has 
never  been,  as  in  Japan,  an  hereditary  military 
caste. 

China's  greatest  conquests  were  made  by  rulers 
of  alien  origin,  such  as  Kublai  Khan,  first  Emperor 


RE-MAKING    OF     CHINA         85 

of  the  Yuan  dynasty,  and  Chienlung,  fourth 
Emperor  of  the  Manehu  dynasty.  The  natural 
love  of  peace  so  inherent  in  the  character  of  the 
bulk  of  the  Chinese  people  is  not  likely  to  be 
affected  by  Western  education.  There  is,  however, 
another  point  of  view  from  which  the  Yellow  Peril 
may  become  a  serious  menace  to  the  peace  of  the 
world.  This  danger  arises  out  of  the  refusal  of 
other  nations  to  admit  Chinese  immigrants.  The 
industrial  life  of  China  is  likely  to  undergo  great 
changes  in  the  near  future. 

The  country  will  be  penetrated  by  a  network  of 
railways ;  steamships  owned  by  Chinese  companies 
will  carry  Chinese  produce  to  foreign  lands,  and 
both  Europe  and  America  will  be  brought  face  to 
face  with  a  formidable  trade  competitor. 

This  industrial  development  will  be  dependent 
upon  the  national  credit  and  the  extent  to  which 
financiers  will  be  willing  to  provide  the  further 
necessary  capital,  a  question  which  will  be  contin- 
gent upon  a  settled  form  of  government  being 
established. 

When  in  search  of  new  fields  of  activity,  the 
surplus  population  is  likely,  for  reasons  of  proxi- 
mity, to  turn  to  those  very  countries  which  at 
present  so  rigidly  exclude  the  Chinese  race.  What 
will  the  attitude  of  these  countries  be  when  this 
question  of  immigration  becomes  acute;  and  will 
they   maintain   their   present   policy   of   rigorous 


86  RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA 

exclusion,  or  incline  to  leniency,  and,  in  concert 
with  the  Chinese  Government,  devise  an  agreement 
by  which,  while  admitting  a  limited  number  of 
Chinese  immigrants,  they  would  safeguard  their 
countries  from  any  undue  influx  of  Chinese  settlers  ? 

The  gravest  issues  depend  upon  the  solution  of 
this  problem,  for  the  new  China  is  likely  to  be 
keenly  sensitive  on  any  point  which  touches  the 
national  honour  and  quick  to  resent  any  legisla- 
tion which  starts  on  the  assumption  of  the 
inferiority  of  the  Chinese  as  compared  to  the 
Europeans. 

The  satisfactory  adjustment  of  this  question  will 
require  the  ablest  statesmanship  combined  with  a 
policy  of  moderation  and  restraint. 

Many  people  hold  the  view  that  the  Revolution 
in  China,  far  from  promoting  her  regeneration  as 
a  united  nation,  is  likely  to  result  in  her  being 
divided  into  small  independent  states,  thereby 
lessening  her  power  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

The  past  history  of  China  does  not  favour  this 
belief. 

We  have  somewhat  of  a  parallel  to  recent 
events  in  China  in  the  occurrences  of  the  year  1644, 
when  the  Ming  dynasty  was  overthrown  by  Li 
Tzu-cheng,  who  was  in  turn  overthrown  by  the 
Manchus. 

The  time  immediately  following  upon  these 
events  marks  a  period  of  anarchy  over  a   large 


RE-MAKING     OF     CHINA  87 

proportion  of  the  country.  China,  however,  passed 
safely  through  her  terrible  ordeal,  and  thirty-two 
years  later  had  once  more  become  a  strong  and 
united  empire  under  the  enlightened  rule  of  the 
great  Manchu  Emperor  Kanghsi. 

Everything  points  to  China  having  found  a 
second  Kanghsi  in  the  person  of  Yuan  Shih-Kai. 
There  seems  reason  to  hope  that  his  great  intellect 
and  strength  of  character  will  prove  equal  to  the 
magnitude  of  his  task,  and  that  under  his  rule 
China  will  attain  the  strength  and  self-reliance 
essential  to  a  great  nation  retaining  her  national 
ideals  in  all  that  appertains  to  her  spiritual  life 
whilst  becoming  Westernised  in  all  matters  of 
practical  value. 

The  Confucian  religion  has  been  the  guiding  star, 
the  greatest  spiritual  and  moral  force  in  the  life 
of  the  Chinese  nation  in  the  past  as  it  is  in  the 
present,  and  will  be  in  the  future. 

The  doctrine  it  teaches  is  that  the  Chinese 
nation  is  one  great  family,  held  together  by  the 
fervour  of  its  patriotism.  The  spread  of  Western 
education  is  likely  to  strengthen  that  patriotism, 
and  will  therefore  still  further  uphold  the  teachings 
of  Confucius. 

Upon  Yuan  Shih-Kai,  if  he,  as  all  well-wishers  of 
China  must  hope,  continues  to  be  the  arbiter  of 
her  destinies,  will  devolve  the  task  of  giving  her 
a   constitution    which   will   satisfy   the  moderate 


88  RE-MAKING    OF    CHINA 

reformers  whilst  retaining  in  his  own  hands  the 
supreme  power  of  government. 

He  will  also  in  all  sincerity  constitute  himself 
the  defender  of  the  Confucian  faith,  and  thereby 
combine  for  his  country's  benefit  the  advantages 
of  a  modern  constitution  with  the  precepts  of  the 
sages. 


INDEX 


Abdication  of  Emperor  de- 
manded, 52 

Administrative  Conference,  77 

Anhui,  72 

Attack  on  Viceregal  Yamen 
at  Wuchang,  33 

Austrian  Legation  fired  on  by 
Chinese  troops,  17 

Btinkruptoy,   China   on   verge 

of,  70 
Belgian  Syndicate  cuid  Loan, 

62 
Birch,  Crisp  &  Co.,  loan  with, 

70 
Bomb    explosion    in    Russian 

Concession  at  Hankow,  32 
Boxer  Society,  12,  13 

Cabinet,  first,  31 

Canton,  74 

Chan  Kwing-ming,  Tutuh,  74 

Chang     Chien,     Governor     of 

Nanking,  44 
Chang  Chen-wu,  General,  64 
Chang  Hsun,  General,  43-,  44, 

45,  47,  72 
Chang  Jen-chun,  Viceroy,  43 
Chang  Shao  Tseng,  General,  3G 
Changsha,   capital   of   Hunan, 

35 
Changtefu,  35 
Chao  Ping  Chun,  Premier,  63, 

69 
Chekiang,  72 

Chen  Chi-mei,  General,  73 
Chienlung,  21 
Chihh,  5,  6 
Chi  Hsiu,  23 


89 


China,  Western  influence  and 

the  future,  80,  83 
Chinese  army,  officers  of,  1 

constitution  granted,  36 

immigrants,  85 

Parliament,  the  new,  66,  66 

Republic,  34 
Ching,  Prince,  24 

made  first  Premier,  32 

resigns  Premiership,  36 
Chinkiang,  45 
Chuang,  Prince,  23 
Chun,    Prince,    assumed    the 

Regency,  29 
Chu  Yuan-Chang,  founder  of 

Ming  Dynasty,  55 
Civil  officials,  1 
Civil  war  in  China,  7 1 
Confucius,  1 
Constitutional    •     Government 

promised,  27 
Coup  d'liltat  of  1898,  10 

Dowager-Empress,    the,  6,   8, 

9,  18,  19,  20 
Dragon  Throne,  the,  2 
Duke   Lan   announces   arrival 

of  AlUed  Relief  Force,  20 
banished,  23 

Edict  to  slay  foreigners,  17 
Education,  modem  system  of, 

4 
En  Hai,  assassin  of  Baron  von 

Ketteler,  17 
Europe,  invasion  of,  84 

Fang-wei,  General,  64 

Feng  Kuo-Chang,  General,  41 


90 


INDEX 


Five  Power  Group,  69 

Foreign  Ministers,  2,  16 

Formosa,  loss  of,  3 

Four  Power  Sjmdicate,  the,  62 

France,  war  with,  3 

French  Cathedral  attacked  and 

fired,  14 
Fukien,  72 

General      Election      of      new 

Chinese  Parliament,  66 
German   missionaries,   murder 

of,  3 
Germany,     Emperor    of,   and 

European  invasion,  84 
Grand  Council  and  war  against 

the  world,  16 
Grand  Council  superseded  by 

Cabinet,  32 
Great  Britain  and  Wei-hai-wei, 

3 

Hall  of  Purple  Lights,  2 
Hankow,  32,  34,  41,  49 
Hanyang,  34,  41,  49 
Hong-Kong,  74 
Hsien  Feng,  Emperor,  21 
Hsu  Ching-cheng  alters  edict 
so  as  to  protect  foreigners, 
17 
death  of,  18 
Hsu  Shao  Cheng,  General,  43, 
46,  47 
evacuates  Nanking,  44 
declares  for  the  Republic,  46 
Hsuan  Tung  (Pu  Yi),  Emperor, 
29,  42,  81 
abdicates  the  throne,  54 
Huan    Hsing,    Commander    of 
Nanking,  64 
visits  Pekmg,  66 
proclaims    independence    of 
Nanking,  71 
Himan,  neutrality  of,  72 
Hung  Hsiu-tsuan,  founder  of 

Taiping,  66 
Hupeh,  34,  72 

Hupeh  Provincial  Assembly 
goes  over  to  Revolution- 
ists, 34 


Ichang,  Treaty  Port  of,  34 

"  I  Ho  Chuan  "  (Boxer  Soci- 
ety), 13 

Iho  Park,  the,  6 

Imperial  Court,  return  of,  to 
Peking,  24 

Imperial  Edicts  and  modem 
reforms,  4 

Indo  -  Chinese  dependencies, 
loss  of,  3 

International  Municipal  Coun- 
cil, 73 

Japan,  3,  74 

Jui    Cheng,    Viceroy    of    Wu- 
chang, 32 
flight  from  Revolutionaries, 
33 

Kalgan,  20 

Kanghsi,  Emperor,  21,  87 

Kang  Yi,  12,  20 

Kang  Yu-wei,  Cantonese  re- 
former, 4,  9 

Ketteler,  Baron  von,  assas- 
sination of,  16 

Kiagnan  Arsenal,  defence  of, 
73 

Kiangsi,  civil  war  breaks  out 
in,  71,  72 

Kiangsu,  72 

Kiukiang,  35 

Korea,  loss  of,  3 

Kublai  Khan,  65,  85 

Kuomingtang,  66,  70,  72,  74, 
75,  77 

Kwanghsu,   minority   of   Em- 
peror, 2 
meets  Kang  Yu-wei,  4 
seized  and  imprisoned,  9 
hands   over  government   to 

Dowager-Empress,  9 
selection  of  heir  to,  28 
death  of,  29 

Kwangtung,  72,  74 

Kweichau,  72 

Legations,  siege  of,  17 
Liang  Chi-chao,  9,  27 
Li  Hung  Chang,  24 


INDEX 


91 


Li  Tzu-cheng,  86 

Li  Yuan -hung,  Colonel,  33,  34, 
42,  48,  65,  72,  75 

Liu  Kun-yi,  Viceroy  of  Nan- 
king, refuses  to  massacre 
foreigners,  18 

Loans,  62,  69,  70 

Lu  Cheng-hsiang  appointed 
Premier,  63 

Lu  Chun  (Modem  Army),  31 

Lung  Tsi  Kwang  occupies 
Canton,  74 

Lung  Yu,  Empress-Dowager, 
52 

Manchu    Dynasty,    the,    and 
foreign  aggression,  11 
removal  of,  52,  53 
concessions    to,  on    abdiea- 
tion,  58 
Manchus,  massacre  of,  35 
Mandarin,  the,  6 
Middle  Kingdom,  the,  4 
Military  and  naval  reform,  6 
Ming   Dynasty,   overthrow   of 

the,  86 
Modem  Army,  revolt  of,  33 
Modification  of  Marriage  Law, 

25 
Molingkuan,  44,  45 
Mongolia,  69,  70,  77 

Nanking,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,  60, 

71,  72,  74,  75 
National      Consultative      Aa- 

sembly,  27 
National  Convention,  49,  51 
National  Council,  65 
National  Militia,  formation  of, 

13 
Northern  Army,  formation  of 

the,  26 
marches  against  Revolution- 
aries, 34 
Northern  Provinces  refuse  to 

accept     Sim     Yat-sen    as 

President,  56 

"  Outer  Barbarian,"  the,  2 


Parliament,  dissolution  of,  78 

Peace  Conference  proposed,  48 

Peace  of  Nanking,  46 

Peace  with  Allies  signed,  24 

Peking  Field  Force,  5 

Peking,  situation  in,  caused 
by  Boxer  Movement,  1900, 
14 

Poppy,  cultivation  of,  abol- 
ished, 28 

Port  Arthur,  loss  of,  to  Japan, 
3 
retroceded  to  Russia,  3 

President  of  Chinese  Republic 
State  entry  into  Nanking, 
65 

Presidential  election,  75 

Provincial  Assemblies  estab- 
lished, 27 

Pu  Lun,  Prince,  28 

Pu  Yi,  Prince,  28 

proclaimed    Heir- Apparent, 
29 

Purple  Mountain,  the  storming 
of,  46 

Religion,  75,  87 

Repubhc  of  China  announced 

in  Abdication  Edict,  54 
Revolution  conunences,  33 
Revolutionaries      acquire      I- 
chang,  34 
Changsha,  35 
Kiukiang,  35 
Sianfu,  35 

hoist    Republican    flag    on 
Admiral   Sah's   squadron, 
35 
Revolutionary  army,  65 
Russia  and  Port  Arthxir,  3 
Russia  and  Mongolia,  69 

loajis  and,  70 
Russo-Chinese  agreement,  69, 
70 

Sah   Chen-ping,   Admiral,   34, 

35 
Salt  Gabelle,  the  loan  raised 

on,  70 
Shanghai,  occupation  of,  73 


92 


INDEX 


Shantung,  72 
Sianfu,  20,  22,  35 
Siege  of  Nanking,  46 
Southern     Viceroys     thanked 

for  protecting  foreigners, 

24 
Sugiyama,  assassination  of  Mr., 

14 
Summer  Palace,  the,  6 
Sun  Yat-sen,  the  Revolution- 
ist, 10,  31,  39,  40,  65,  66, 

65 
Sung  Chiao-jen  Kuomingtang 

candidate  for  Premiership, 

66 
Szchewan,  rebellion  in,  32,  72 

Taiyuanfu  (Shansi),  massacre 
of,  18 

Tang  Hua-lung,  President  of 
Hupeh  Provincial  As- 
sembly, 34 

Tang  Shao-yi,  Chief  Imperial- 
ist Delegate,  48 
Premier,  62 
resigns  Premiership,  63 

Temple  of  Heaven,  the,  78 

Tibet,  77 

Tieh  Liang,  General,  43,  44 

Tientsin,  12,  19 

Tseng  Ju  Cheng,  Admiral,  73 

Tsung  -li-  Yamen  (Foreign 

Office)  and  the  Legations, 
14 

Tuan,  Prince,  16,  20,  23 

Tuan  Chih-jui,  Minister  of 
War,  62 

Timg  Fu-hsiang,  leader  of 
Mahommedan  soldiery,  14 

Tung-chih,  Emperor,  2 

Tung  Meng  Hui  (Sworn 
Brotherhood),  31,  40,  48, 
60,  62,  63,  64,  66 

Tutuhs,  the  (Military  Govern- 
ors), 59,  77 

Tzu  Cheng  Yuan  (Consultative 
Senate),  31,  36 

Tzu  Hsi,  Dowager- Empress, 
intrigues  against  Emperor, 
6 


Tzu  Hsi,  Dowager- Empress, 
plot  to  imprison,  8 

begged  to  resume  Govern- 
ment by  Grand  Council,  9 

orders  massacre  of  Tai- 
yuanfu, 18 

permits  armistice  with  Lega- 
tions, 19 

resiunes  hostilities  with 
Legations,  19 

flight  of,  with  the  Emperor 
and  Heir- Apparent,  20 

decides  to  conclude  peace 
with  Allies,  24 

heads  Reform  Party,  25 

character  of,  29 

"  Unchanging  East,"  the,  1 
United  States  of  China,  63 
University  of  Peking  ordered 
to  be  established,  4 

Viceroys  of  Southern  Provinces 
side  with  foreigners  against 
Boxers,  17 

Waldersee,  Count  Von,  20 

War  for  the  punishment  of 
Yuan,  the,  71 

Wearing  of  queue  made  op- 
tional, 25 

Wei-hai-wei  leased  to  Great 
Britain,  3 

Wuchang,  32 

Wusung  forts,  74 

Wu-Ting-fang  appointed  Chief 
Republican  Delegate,  48 

Yenchau,  72 

Yin  Chang,  General,  34,  40,  41 
Yuan  Chang,  17,  18 
Yuan  Shih-Kai,  5,   8,   17,  28, 
38,  47,  48,  65 
Viceroy  of  Chihli,  24 
President  of  Waiwupu,  26 
dismissed,  dishonoured  and 

exiled,  30 
recalled  by  Prince  Chun,  36 
elected  first  Prime  Minister, 
36 


INDEX 


93 


Yuan  Shih-Kai,  suggested  for 
the  Imperial  Dynasty,  42 

unsuccessful  efforts  to  float 
a  loan,  42 

concludes  armistices  with 
Li  Yuan-hung,  48 

attempted  assassination  of, 
53 

assists  Sun  Yat-sen,  55 

elected  Provisional  President 
of  Republic,  56 

in  grave  peril  owing  to  de- 
sertion of  his  troops,  61 

determined  to  crush  the 
Tung  Meng  Hui,  64 

plot  against,  65 

and  the  Kuomingtang,  66, 
70,  71,  72 


Yuan  Shih-Kai,  distrusted  by 
Revolutionary  Party,  66 
and  Russia,  70 
and  Chang  Hsun,  72 
elected  President,  75 
inauguration  of  his  Presid- 
ency, 75 
destroys  the  Kuomingteaig, 

77 
forms   Administrative    Con- 
ference, 77 
as  Dictator,  78 
Yu  Hsien,  18,  23 
Yung  Lu,  6,  15,  16,  19,  20,  23, 

26 
Yung- ting  Gate,  the,  14 
Yunnan,  72 


Richard  Clay  A  Sons,  Limitkd, 

BRUNSWICK    STREET,   STAMFORD   3TRKKT,   S.B. 
AND    BUNOAY,    SUFFOLK. 


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